AboutDavid L. Russell, PE Expertise I`m a Chemical,Civil and Environmental Engineer and have a number of projects in all phases of the environment.
I have worked in the chemical industry and am active in professional societies, and am currently on an industrial wastes committee for the Water Environment Federation, and have taught courses in remediation in the US and abroad.
I have written one book on Remediation of petroleum Contaminated Sites, and have a second book on PRACTICAL WASTEWATER TREATMENT to be published by John Wiley in September, 2006. I've also written over 30 articles on various elements of environmental problems and cleanup. Most Recently, I have addressed a NATO Scientific and Techical Conference on Ecoterrorism, and have worked with the same group on remediation of sites contaminated with Chemical Warfare Agent materials and othe materials as well. . I can answer q`s about Chemical and Environmental Engineering, land development, air pollution, water pollution, soil and water cleanup, combustion, international environmental problems, industrial processes chemical processes. Civil and Environmental and Chemical Engineering. Overall, I have over 35 years of experience in this area. Note: I do not answer homework questions
Experience I love work in the third world and developing areas
because it is challenging and one can get a sense of accomplishment.
Question Hi Mr Russell. I've read your answer about oil spill, the beach, the cooking oil and the motor oil and I like it very much. Now I'm writing you because I started to work on an analytical technique that involves Diesel, gasoline and others combustibles. The sample fuels are poured in little plastic vessels (cell) which became contaminated with the fuels, so I want some advice for wash and reuse the plastic material (polyethylene). The provider claims that I must buy more plastic cells but I think they can be recycled if an appropriate washing process is done.
Thank you for your help
Gabriel Elías
Laboratory Technician
México
Answer Unfortunately for you, I believe that the supplier may be correct, although it may depend upon the levels of hydrocarbons you are seeking to determine.
The easy and best solution is to use glass cells if they are available, because they are non-porous.
However, given that, and I hesitate to suggest this solution, you probably can get the plastic cells clean enough by soaking them in a solution of alkanox (a commercial laboratory low residue detergent) for a few days. It should get the concentrations down to a managable level. Other things which you might want to try include soaking the plastic containers in a strong solution of caustic soda (which should convert the oils to soaps)- but there's a handling danger to that, and if you are not experienced in the laboratory, you might want to get someone who is familiar with handling laboratory reagents as there is some specific hazard - including burns and potential hazards to your eyes if you should fail to wear goggles. You also need to know how to handle liquids which have a potential to react with water and generate heat.
Having scared the bejeepers out of you, you can probably also use a strong solution of some commercial laundry detergent (with enzyme boosters) plus a bit of orange cleaner for getting things clean. There may be some residual, but it depends upon the levels you are seeking to determine. For the percent ranges and the 10's of PPM ranges, the cleaning technique I suggested should be fine.
As a last resort, and I do not recommend this one, there is Acid Cleaning Solution which is a mixture of Sodium Chromate and Sulfuric Acid in concentrated solution. I used it in organic analyses many years ago before there was a concern over disposal of hexavalent chromium, and it's so powerful that if you spill any on your clothes, by the time you can start to remove it, it has eaten through most fabrics. Again, definitely a last resort. I didn't give you the recipe for a good reason.
Finally, I don't know if you have access to a good commercial glassware diswasher. That should also do the trick but it's the heat which can harm your plastic ware.
Best recommendation: Try alkanox it's available from most good chemical supply houses and relatively inexpensive. You can even use the left over for dishes.
It does contain Phosphate boosters, and you might have a problem if you live in Oregon and/or Washington State because they have just recently imposed a phosphate ban on detergents, and alkanox fits into that category. But I believe that for the small amount you will be using, you should be fine.
PS. Make sure you rinse off the soaps in tap water followed by double or triple rinsing in distilled water.
Good luck and drop me a line if you need more help. My main e-mail addres is dlr@mindspring.com
