Guidelines for care & Use of Dry Solvent Stills [Example]

12. Dr. Noftle – Lab Room # 117
Specific Decontamination Procedures for Equipment and Bench top Surfaces which have come into
contact with Highly Toxic Waste
Include here methods of cleaning up work surfaces in hoods or bench tops so as to render traces of
toxic chemicals benign.
Follow the spill cleanup procedures for specific chemicals described in their MSDS sheets. It is useful to
refer to the shortened lab-scale step-by-step spill procedures listed in the "Hazardous Laboratory
Chemicals Disposal Guide", 2nd edition, kept with the Laboratory Manager or in the Stockroom, room #
110. Vermiculite or clay based kitty litter (bentonit, or processed clay) can be used for volatile, common
organic solvent spillage. Neutralizing soda ash or baking soda (Sodium bicarbonate) or Sodium carbonate
is used for mineral acids. The neutralized and absorbed materials can be swept up and placed in an
appropriately labeled container and taken to the metal surface table in room # 20. Two five gallon plastic
pails of absorbent material (1:1:1 mixture of sand, kitty liter, and sodium bicarbonate or baking soda) are
kept in the department for general use, one in solvent room #20 and the other in the chemical prep room#
103.
Hydrofluoric acid spills should be completely neutralized with 5 to 10% solutions of lime
water (calcium hydroxide), two bottles of which you will find in room #103, along with a case
of solid calcium hydroxide. DO NOT BREATHE FUMES OF HF! Be extremely careful
with Hydrofluoric acid. Burns from this material are deeply penetrating and can be deadly,
causing massive tissue damage.
Kitty-liter cannot be used as a spill absorbent for Hydrofluoric acid, since it will react to
form SiF4, a toxic and corrosive gas. Neither should you use sand, which will also react with
it.
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