In the course of clearing my mother’s garage I have found a bottle containing about 700 ml of hydrofluoric acid, fortunately in original manufacturer’s packaging and probably never opened.



Can anyone recommend a disposal company that is likely to be able to collect in Yorkshire for a reasonable cost? I assume we are looking for a company that does a regular round of small businesses.



Alternatively, does anyone in Yorkshire want 700 ml of 48 % hydrofluoric acid? Free for collection.

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 09/09/2015 11:14:36

As hydrofluoric acid attacks glass, why is it in a bottle? Maybe not hydrofluoric?

I assume it is a plastic bottle. It has the manufacturer's original label, and I read it three times to make sure I had not misunderstood what it said.

John

Council were my first thought, and they do not take it. Thank you for the Fire Brigade suggestion. They are horrified at the prospect of having anything to do with it, but have named a couple of companies in the area that they have used themselves.

John

John: It would be interesting to know why your mother had a bottle of it in the first place. I don't know if it has any domestic applications?

I've used HF acid once, to etch a steel welding sample prior to polishing. I used it with the help of a tutor, and it was rubber all round, gloves, boots, apron and a full face mask. Nasty stuff.

Andrew

It looks like John found what I intended to post after logging in. At least it's below 60% concentration otherwise a special section of the ADR regulations apply. It will have to be a specialist company that handles it. The problems are outlined on a pdf linked to on this page

**LINK**

It would be best to be very clear about the concentration when talking to them. It might be feasible to take it too them.

It may turn out that it's "fairly" easy to transport. There would be a need to look further to find out. Chemical supply companies ship many things that need double packaging and also must be below certain amounts that can vary according to what it is.

John

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Mainly for KWIL but others may benefit from the information,

I have worked with HF in the past, the standard supply 'bottle' will be in high density polyethylene, one of the few materials that are able to resist attack by the acid. Going back further still I recall that the stuff was available in containers made of a material called Gutta Percha, a natural thermoplastic made from tree resins sourced in Malaya.

It used to be used with rather more abandon all those years ago for glass etching, at which it is very good and this may be the reason why Mr Hall's mother had it in the first place, dating back to a hobby interest of hers.

Brian

Edited By Brian Wood on 09/09/2015 14:04:28

"HF can be neutralised with Sodium Bicarbonate to pH 5.5"

I expect that would be a violent chemical reaction with a lot of spatter

I would be a long distance away from the reaction vessel – PPE aside.

In response to some of the further points:

I think my father may have intended to etch some glassware, but there is no evidence that he actually did so. My mother will only become aware that she owns a bottle of hydrofluoric when my sister presents the winning bid to her for payment.

It probably does come from a couple of decades back, when these things were indeed treated with more abandon.

I tried the wastecare online form a couple of days ago, without result, but with the recommendation (thank you) I have now phoned them, and they sounded the most organised so far, but until the quote comes in a couple of days I cannot know what the real outcome will be. Unfortunately collection of HF from domestic premises is a rather rare requirement, so I have not yet found anyone who can just read off a standard price list.

It is probably in transport packaging, but I do not wish to transport it.

Stonemason's apparently use it, which may be more widespread than some of the other industries, but the stuff sells at about GBP 20 / litre, so it is not going to be worth anyone going more than a mile to fetch.

Strange to say, my wife told me yesterday that her first job, back in the 70s, was research into using HF as a way of making through holes in multi-layer PCBs. I must ask her if they kept calcium gel to hand. However, she is not suffering from a nostalgic wish to meet HF again, and will probably stay south of Gloucester until it has been dealt with.

John

Something over 50 years ago a school friend and I, who use to go scavenging on the council tip for bicycle parts, found an unlabelled hard rubber bottle containing acid, at least it fizzed well when dripped onto rusty oil drums. We took it home thinking that it wasn't a good idea to leave it lying there in case a less knowledgeable child found it.

A small amount was poured into a test tube with the idea of running a few tests to identify it. It rapidly became clear that it was hydroflouric acid as the test tube was etched. Living in an area of chalky soil we were able to dig a hole, partially filled it with chalk and carefully tipped the contents into it before replacing the soil.

I hope modern regulations prevent such things appearing on waste sites now!

Russell.

Hi, I agree with how nasty HF is. The company I used to work for several years ago used to use it when I first started to work for them, but thankfully they discontinued it's use shortly after. The laboratory still used it for many years in small quantities and about 30 years ago I asked it I could have some to try and etch a piece of glass, the lab manager gave me consent, but I had to sign a disclaimer to say that the company would not be liable for any injury to anyone or any damage to any property or the environment and I had to remove it from the site that day and that only and I also had to accept a tube of cream to neutralize it, should I get some on my skin. The etching did work, but I soon found out that I would have needed much more of it than I was given and the process would take longer than I had time to spare, so I gave the idea up.

Regards Nick.

Could you possibly dilute it with water, ( slowly adding the acid to the water and not vice-versa), then neutralize it with a mild alkaline mix made from diluted bicarbonate soda etc? Then check the pH level with one of those strips for testing swimming pool water. Once it is somewhere around 5.5 to 7pH it is pretty neutral and would possibly be safe to wash down the drain with copious water from a tap or hose etc, wouldn't it?