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

15. Dr. Welker – Lab Room # 13 and 18
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.
Mercury Spill:
When mercury is spilled on a bench top or floor, begin cleanup immediately. Obtain the mercury
spill kit from laboratory stock room. Wear gloves while working with spill. Consolidate as many droplets
as possible using a piece of cardboard. Then use pump contained in the mercury spill kit to collect the
mercury. Place mercury in a thick-wall high-density polyethylene bottle and store in well-ventilated area
(hood, etc.). Do not absorb mercury with the emergency zinc absorbent material in the spill kit unless
absolutely necessary (i.e., unless there is far too much to pick up with the pump).
� If necessary, mercury should be cleaned. See "Specific Procedures for Safe Removal of Highly Toxic
Waste." It is presently impossible to dispose of any sort of contaminated mercury.
� General Considerations:
Fires are extinguished using dry chemical extinguishers or sand only. No CO2 or H2O fire extinguishers
can be used. Materials to be considered in lab: nBuLi, t-BuLi, LiAlH4, BCl3, Me2BBr, catechol borane,
BBr3, AlCl3, AlBr3, EtAlCl2, AlMe3, AlEt3, BPh3, PhBCl2.
Removal of Lewis Acids and other Organometallics:
Warning: Pyrophoric in air, water, and exposure to mildly acidic environments can be corrosive
to skin, eyes, and respiratory tract. Large Scale Removal: compounds are placed in a container in an inert
atmosphere, labeled, and sent off with an appropriate waste removal service. Small Scale Removal: Small
amounts of materials may be "quenched" in an inert solvent in an inert atmosphere by slow addition of tbutanol.
The resultant solutions are separated with the organic layer being put into an appropriate waste
container and water layer being added to copious amounts of water. Small amounts (