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School Chemical Management

School Chemical Management. Dave Waddell Local Hazardous Waste Management Program in King County, WA dave.waddell@metrokc.gov. What’s the Issue?. October 1957 Sputnik launched The U.S. panics By 1960: $4,000,000,000 in grants to schools for science

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School Chemical Management

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  1. School Chemical Management Dave Waddell Local Hazardous Waste Management Program in King County, WA dave.waddell@metrokc.gov

  2. What’s the Issue? • October 1957 Sputnik launched • The U.S. panics • By 1960: $4,000,000,000 in grants to schools for science • Schools buy hazardous science lab chemicals by the case • They’re still there!

  3. Why Work w/ High School Labs? • Just in King County, WA • Bomb squad to 44 schools to stabilize explosive chems • Found 780 pounds of mercury, shipped 681 lbs • 38tons of stockpiled chemicals safely disposed • Illegal disposal common Red phosphorus Degrades to poisonous white phosphorus which spontaneously ignites in contact with the air

  4. Problems That Need Addressing • High Risk Chemicals • Poor Chemical Storage • No Spill Procedures • Unsafe Chemical Use • Illegal Chemical Disposal • Untrained Teachers • Lack of Links with Us Two bottles from the 1920s

  5. High Risk Materials We’ve Seen • Peroxide Forming Chemicals & Explosives • Potassium, Ether, Dioxane, Tetrahydrofuran, Picric acid, Sodium azide, Perchloric acid, Di • Water and Air Reactives • Potassium, Sodium, Lithium, Calcium carbide, Yellow Phosphorus, White Phosphorus, Lithium Aluminum Hydride • Corrosives • Hydrofluoric acid, Perchloric acid, Bromine, Nitric acid • Carcinogens and Toxins • Arsenic, Cadmium, Chloroform, Formaldehyde, Potassium dichromate, Mercury & Cyanide compounds, Phenol

  6. Ammonium nitrate crystals = leaking nitric acid & ammonium hydroxide bottles Mercury with “protective layer of water”

  7. Nitric Acid Problems • Highly corrosive • Severe burns on contact • Powerful oxidizer • Eats plastic caps in 7 to 10 years Red cap nitric acid. Yellow cap sulfuric acid. Green cap ammonium hydroxide. Strong acids & bases are incompatible. White crystals are ammonium nitrate formed by leaking vapors of nitric acid & ammonia.

  8. Hydrofluoric Acid • Anesthetic: acid doesn’t burn on contact • Deep tissue and bone disintegration • Extreme pain, can cause gangrene, amputation • Highly corrosive, dissolves glass • Used in Art & Chem classes for glass etching

  9. George is lucky he only got sleepy! Middle school, fully peroxidized Explosive, right by household compounds used daily

  10. Highly explosive peroxide crystals. Crystals on acid bottle, no big deal. Crystals on solvent lid, assume explosive

  11. What happens when peroxidized ether is distilled

  12. Middle School Potassium • Used in demo of comparative water reactivity in earth metals • Supposed to be gray-silver • Color changes as oxidized • White to yellow • (corrosive oxide) • Orange, red, purple • (explosive super oxide) • Very slow, expensive deactivation procedure

  13. Corrosive, volatile oxidizer. Often is found in blown- glass ampoules that are very fragile. Orange thick cap = Volatile poisonous compounds

  14. Unlabeled Corroded Chlorine Gas White phosphorus, pyrophoric if water level drops ½ inch spontaneously ignites

  15. Chlorine (corrosive poison) Ammonia (corrosive poison) The “Box O Gases”

  16. Hand-written word “Nitro” In middle school Tested and found nitroglycerine

  17. If chloroform not preserved with alcohol and exposed to light, assume Phosgene gas is present. Dispose now!

  18. Powerful oxidizer. Incompatible with flammable solvents. If exposed to light Can form phosgene Chem warfare agent Peroxidizable flammable solvent Peroxide inhibitor (BHT) is temperature sensitive So freezing it increases risk of becoming explosive

  19. Storage in Labs

  20. The teacher was hazmat coordinator for district. Other schools sent their stuff for disposal. Never disposed of them. Note chemicals on chair.

  21. Great storage cupboards and cabinets, but still stored on counters. Must overcome the hassle-factor barrier

  22. Helpful teacher moved chemicals to prepare for planned disposal sometime in future. Drain in back of hood holds bottles. Reactives, mercury, flammables, oxidizers

  23. Storage: Segregate Incompatibles Mix these, could get flaming acid

  24. Ammonium chloride crystals (mixed ammonium hydroxide & hydrochloric acid vapors

  25. Storage Near Drains Heavy metal limits are very low for sewer discharges. Copper and lead solutions commonly go down drain.

  26. Got an MSDS for your Methol Some- thing?

  27. Types of Improvements Desired • Infrastructural changes • Facility design and materials • Institutional changes • Purchasing practices • Storage practices • Process changes • Chemical use • Waste disposal

  28. Diluted & non-haz chemicals currently in use • Separated hazard classes (acids from bases) • Each quarter they’re replaced with new set • No concentrated stock chemicals allowed

  29. Non-metallic acid cabinets • Don’t corrode • Provide secondary containment

  30. Eventually Must Train Teachers • Remember: They’re professional presenters • They are required to get CEUs each year • Most trainings they attend are on new curricula • They’re sick of new curricula trainings • And even more sick of standardized test trainings • They hate boring speakers

  31. Link Them to Innovative Curricula www.smallscalechemistry.colostate.edu/

  32. http://www.govlink.org/hazwaste/schoolyouth/rehab/labs.htm

  33. Hands On Chemistry • They can’t teach chemistry without chemicals • However, they can: • Use less hazardous chemicals • Use smaller amounts • Use less concentrated chemicals • Benefits of Small Scale Chemistry • Faster set-up and clean-up of labs • Lower risk and less expensive disposal • Much less expensive

  34. Spill Response • Are they prepared? Not really • What could spill? • Corrosive acids & bases • Flammable liquids • Mercury • Don’t have written plan • Don’t do training

  35. Minor Spills • Can you answer YES to these 4 questions? • If so, it may be safe to clean up the spill • Do you know what chemical was spilled? • Do you know hazards of spilled chemical? • Do you have a chemical spill kit? • Can you be protected from these hazards?

  36. Can They Safely Handle Unknowns? • Can’t respond to spills • Can’t guarantee proper PPE • Violates OSHA/WISHA • Right to know hazards • Requirement for MSDSs This is hydrochloric acid. Hmm: label as “corrosive” or “don’t smell?” How do chemists identify unknowns? They whiff the fumes

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