How do you dispose of a 55-gallon drum of unstable chemicals?

[InternalDialogue]

Apparently, you blow it up.

The 55-gallon drum was found Thursday during an inventory and data collection of Almost Anything Stored on 3835 S. Santa Fe Drive.

Chemists from the Colorado Health Department also said the chemicals were unstable and authorities should dispose of them. The chemicals are a petroleum based mix of hydrogen peroxide.

...

They plan to destroy the drum with an explosive blast at around 6 a.m. Friday. The drum will be surrounded by barrels full of water and the bomb squad believes the blast will burn off all the explosive parts of the chemicals.

Because of the blast mandatory evacuations will take place.

I'm not knowledgeable about "petroleum-based hydrogen peroxide," but this sounds like expedience is trumping common sense here. I've got a friend within a block of the evacuation area, and I'd sleep easier if I knew that this was the right way to do the job.

The story is here.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

1. Easy... Fed Ex it to the White House

and say it is from Haliburton

[stepnw1f]

2. lol (nt)

[givemebackmycountry]

3. What kind of handjobs put stuff like this in a storage unit?

Everybody knows you dump it in a stream or a lake.
Jeez...How stupid can it get?

:sarcasm:

[InternalDialogue]

4. I wondered at the name of that company.

"Almost Anything Stored." It implies there are some items they won't take.

But a barrel of unstable chemicals? Well, that's OK.

[Richard Steele]

5. Actually, blowing it up might not be a bad idea.

When they say, "a petroleum based mix of hydrogen peroxide", that's
not really telling us much.
That description covers a lot of possible compounds, some of which
might blow up on their own if you jostle them wrong.

And since professional Chemists have declared that this particular stuff is unstable,
I'd take their word for it.

[InternalDialogue]

6. I'm chemically ignorant.

I have no idea what is released when you combust hydrogen peroxide, plus whatever it takes to hold that in a petroleum solution. I'm just kind of concerned about what my friend might be breathing for the next day or two -- she's not in perfect health.

[existentialist]

8. It depends what else is there.

The only thing that the hydrogen peroxide itself will put off is oxygen and water. It's the oxygen that is the troublesome component because lots of things burn very easily or explode in the presence of concentrated oxygen. So the question is what else is there for the oxygen that is put off by the hydrogen peroxide to react with.

Indeed, unless the other compounds that are there for the oxygen to react with will produce something toxic, and assuming that adequate precautions are taken with regard to the explosion itself, it may make a great deal of sense to blow it up.

[InternalDialogue]

10. Thanks, wicasa.

I'll be hoping that there's nothing toxic in the "remainder" of the barrel. I'll have to give my friend a call in the morning after I check the news.

[Richard Steele]

11. I'm no chemist myself, but I retain some trivia from here and there...

Hydrogen Peroxide itself won't produce any toxins when it goes 'boom';
its formula is 'H2O2', and when you rip it apart most of the free H's and O's
very quickly zip back together like magnets to form the much more stable
molecule 'H2O', aka 'water'.
The leftover O's mostly bond together into 'O2', which is the oxygen we breathe.

It's the un-named "petroleum compounds" that I'd be worried about,
since we don't even know what they are, and they MIGHT be just about anything.

However, this is only ONE 55 gallon drum we're talking about, so keep the
risk in perspective. Even if the stuff in the drum is the WORST possible
stuff it could be, your friend a block away is aleady getting a bigger dose of toxins
just from living in a modern city than she's gonna get from this demolition.

[InternalDialogue]

12. Gracias for the lesson.

And you're right, it's just one drum. And now that you mention it, there are horrible things in cities already -- and the area where this drum was found is populated with recycling stations, railbeds, and landfills. Any boost in O2 from the chemical reaction this morning probably sent a flowery breeze of pure air wafting her way. :hi:

[sam sarrha]

7. the stuff can spontaneously detonate after the Peroxide settles to the

bottom and sits for a couple of years.. it is bas stuff

[freethought]

9. Petroleum based hydrogen peroxide? Something's wrong there

Put a petroleum product and hydrogen peroxide together and what do you get? A pretty intense explosion or fire. Something does not sound right here. I used to work with hazardous chemicals for 13 years and have seen nearly everything just shy of reactor grade radioactive elements and chemical weapon agents like VX or tabun.
If it's hydrogen peroxide it could be that the stuff is old and much of the water in the solution has evaporated off. HP can become explosive if the concentration gets to high. I have seen concentrations as high as 90%. I believe any HP over that concentration is forbidden to transport.

It could also be an organic peroxide. Leave that stuff around too long and bad things can happen. I have seen efforts to stabilize various organic peroxides using various additives. A few have worked,
a few did not.

Either way, it is entirely possible that the stuff has become shock-sensitive and maybe too risky to try to move it. I think the logic here to initiate a chemical reaction that will initiate a sudden reaction in the chemical in place rather than risk having blow up on the road or in transport. I have seen similar operations on a smaller scale, for example, old cans of ether, picric acid, and a few others. But these were small scale, 1 gallon bottles, 1 pound jars, and the like. In these cases the person doing the operation suited up in a ballistic suit to transport the chemical to an isolated area like a field or empty parking lot. Then they would use remote-operated equipment to open the container to chemically stabilize or ignite the chemical. Never saw one blow up.

I read the news report. Sounds as if the officials have things well thought out. This sort of thing happens more than you think.

[annabanana]

13. lol at the ads "drum crusher" etc..

disposal organizations etc...

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

14. Well, it looks like it went boom

and everything is okay.