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Cyanide decontamination small scale

Can someone confirm the decontamination of cyanide solutions. I'm using potassium cyanide at 65mg/ml and plan on using household bleach at a ph of around 11-12 overnight to decontaminate solutions and materials. The materials are to be re-used. Is this sufficient?

Peter Mooney
Student - Houston, Texas
2003

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Something like this should be done under the supervision of an experienced lab instructor, as the gas chamber works by acidifying cyanide, and many people in the plating industry have died from accidentally acidifying cyanide. Hopefully you know enough to only do it under a lab hood. Yes, you have the principal right, and it should take only a few minutes to convert the cyanide to cyanate. Leaving it overnight at this pH will go someways towards converting the cyanate to carbon dioxide and nitrogen, and I think your approach is a good one.

I don't know what you mean by "the materials are to be re-used". Sure it's possible to decontaminate glassware, etc., but it does require care and quality control since ingesting even a tiny amount of cyanide causes rapid death.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
Need quick confidential answers? $25
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2003

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