I am not so lucky to have any government agency that cares here in
NC. In regards to acid I talked with my local pharmicist and he
told me to dilute it to oblivion. In other words, add it to water
until its percnetage is less that 1/2 % and then for good measure
add some baking soda to totally neutralize it. I once tried to get
rid of some cyanide in georgia for my boss. It is still sitting on
a shelf in the back room. No one will help, no cares. I called
numerous agencies, they just kept passing the buck. If anyone out
there knows of what to do in NC let me know. I would like to know
just for the I try not to use harsh things but
sometime you don’t know what is in pre-made compounds.
Safety Kleen has three branches in North Carolina. Raleigh,
Charlotte, and Archdale. Their website has a locator page with
address and phone number for all their branches.
Yup, contacted Safety-Clean. By the time they drive here with two,
count em two chemists at $200.00 per hour portal to portal and pick
up the four or five gallons of acids and cyanide solutions my cost
is $1,700.00. We will be purchasing non-sodium chemicals to
neutralize the acid and figure out another option for the cyanide
solutions. Maybe just store til we get enough to justify the cost.
Must be some way to do this safely and at some sort of reasonable
price. I mean $1,700.00!!!
G’day. Thank you for your kind (if somewhat misplaced) faith in me.
I read the content of that URL above, and it does sound extremely
complicated and academic for the average jeweller. I offer the
following suggestion, and that’s all it really is;
I would have thought that converting the cyanide to the ferric salt
by simply adding plenty of strong ferric chloride solution, letting
it clear a little by standing and then adding a few more drops of
ferric chloride solution until no more precipitate forms. This
should produce ferric cyanide which is quite insoluble, and should
be harmless. Dry it off in a tray of sawdust in the sun, parcel it
in old newspaper and send to the tip. This only goes for small
quantities - less than 100 grams cyanide. For large amounts of
waste cyanide, seek advice from professional disposal companies.
Be assured, there will be far worse things in that rubbish tip than
a few grams of ferric cyanide. Now call me a vandal and ‘ungreen’.