I thought opening a thread for the discussion of PPE (personal protective equipment)and other appropriate safety measures one should be aware of before attempting any kind of extraction would be a good idea..and helpful.. and important.

My gear consists of:

1. Goggles
2. Gas Mask (for dust AND solvents)
3. Nitrile gloves
4. sometimes a vinyl smock or poncho
5. "lab shoes" closed toe slippers or something
6. something for the hair
7. Dedicated clothes (salvidor Dali t shirt and carhart pants)

and thats just the PPE

other safety measures that are taken.

1. First AID kit
2. Unidirectional Air Flow (get serious about it) like multiple in line fans...
3. tarp on the floor
4. paper towels
5. hazardous waste recepticle

never eat or drink in your work space.. especially if you dont label your containers, i have seen naphtha in the mouth before.

so my open question to members and guests of this forum

What are you doing to protect yourself?

A very good topic to get people thinking histones

Thanks for posting, i'm making this sticky


I have one addition:

Make sure you're in good health, ie: not hung over, not tripping, not drunk or stoned or other (during a 12 hour cook.. well, by the 10 hour mark.. well)

Many swimmers have surely been in this position, and it's not a clever one. The fumes of heated solvent and base can make you feel foul on their own, if you're already not in well sorts then you have a greater risk of nauesea and even passing out. Don't risk it!

Plus, you can easily do the process incorrectly. Even though it's basic, it's not very hard to bugger it up! A certain swim almost poured (in the sink!) his 1st and 2nd pulls to make way for the 3rd, almost! not clever



Edit: and a second one: (not really on personal safety but.. well yes it is actually)

Lye does break glass. I've seen it happen again and again, and heard the horrible aftermath stories.
Why risk it when HDPE jugs are so easy to find!?


Any auto shop should have 5L Distilled Water in HDPE jugs.
If you can't find that then look at windscreen washer fluid or coolant

Perhaps my lab gnome set a poor example. Do not follow his lead in terms of lab attire, but rather scoff at his unsafety and promise yourself to be more careful than he.

He wears shorts and a t-shirt, and typically wears sandals (not proper labwear I tell him). He wears nitrile gloves, but has been known to forego the goggles (also not recommended). A little cannabis or a beer or two never stopped him from doing some liquid-liquid extractions.

Some things he does right:

Always works in a ventilated area free of spark sources. Keeps acids (vinegar and citric) and paper towels onhand in case of unforeseen breakage. Never stores or mixes lye solutions in glass containers; if it's not in the seperatory funnel, it's in HDPE2. Exposure to fumes is always minimal (essentially only during the liquid-liquid extraction step for two periods of roughly one minute, with a few minutes break between).

To safely heat the naphtha for extractions, he boils a pot of water on the stove, brings it up to the spark-safe extraction room, and puts a narrow-necked vessel containing the solvent into the pot (erlenmeyer for those with labware, a beerbottle is a decent kitchen equivalent). This is allowed to heat while the aqueous phase is poured into the seperatory funnel.

It is very important to be paying attention. A lot of the steps are time sensitive, especially when using heat; and shouldn't be hurried along, or forgotten for that matter.

12 hours is a heavy shift.. people get tired. accidents happen. Even small ones, like knocking over your first pull of naphtha, or breaking glass.

Entropymancer: have you experienced Lye breaking glass? and if so after how long?

Nope, nor do I care to. I know there are folks who use glass jars without any problems, but my lab gnome doesn't see any sort of benefit to taking the risk when milk jugs are so ubiquitous.

milk jugs won't leach anything out if storing a solution containing lye? good to know, is there a difference between regular or light-blocking milk jugs...or does it not matter? SWIM only holds the H2O/NaOH/bark solution for several days at most in 1/2 gallon Ball jars but always good to be on the safe side.

I've heard speculation that some small plastic particulates may find their way into the alkaline solution if it's stored for a long period of time (many months), but no, leeching is not an issue in the short-term as far as I know.

I'm not familiar with regular vs lightblocking jugs. The sort I refer to are HDPE #2.

What are the dangers of breathing the fumes of the various solvents that someone might be evaporating. Flow hoods are nice, but they don't catch everything. Lots of people evap naptha in their house, for instance.

its not just breathing the fumes thats dangerous, they are explosive. Some are heavier than air (someone mentioned that xylene sinks in another thread) and can accumulate and explode; or hurt your pets or children. Also, they could blow your cover.

One important thing to consider is that the solvents may be absorbed by your skin or in your hair. You may as well be drinking it.

From the MSDS for Treated Naphtha:

EFFECTS OF ACUTE EXPOSURE:
EYES: May cause irritation.
SKIN: May cause irritation with inflammation, redness, blistering and cellular damage. May cause
defatting, drying, and scaling of the skin. May cause chemical burns.
INGESTION: May irritate the gastrointestinal tract. May cause coughing, choking and gagging. May
cause gastrointestinal discomfort and vomiting. May cause headache, nausea, vertigo, signs of
drunkenness, diarrhea, lethargy, hair loss, convulsions, and coma. May damage the heart and central
nervous system.
Aspiration may lead to fever, shortness of breath, increased rate of respiration, and rales. Aspiration
may cause hemorrhage, transient central nervous system excitement, pulmonary edema, and death.
INHALATION: May cause irritation of the throat and nose. May cause coughing, choking, shortness of
breath, headache, dizziness, nausea, and narcosis. May cause incoordination, weakness, vertigo,
prolonged reaction time, and impairment of short-term memory. May cause olfactory fatigue. May
cause labored breathing, salivation, drowsiness, euphoria, slurred speech, and drunkenness. May
cause excitation, tremors, and hyperactivity. May damage the blood forming tissues and cause a bluish
discoloration of the skin. May damage the heart, spleen, kidneys, and central nervous system. May
cause vomiting and cough. May cause anesthesia and arrhythmias. Extreme over-exposure may
result in spasms and death.
EFFECTS OF CHRONIC EXPOSURE:
EYES: Effects from chronic exposure were not reported in the literature.
SKIN: May cause dermatitis characterized by dryness, redness, swelling, cracking, chapping, and
scaling. May cause fatigue. May damage the bone marrow and blood. May cause the skin to look
pale or a purplish discolouration. May increase the susceptibility to other skin diseases. May damage
the horny layer of the skin. May be a skin sensitizer. Prolonged over-exposure may cause death.
Exposure may be associated with an increased risk of skin cancer.
INGESTION: Effects from chronic exposure were not reported in the literature.
INHALATION: Prolonged exposure may damage the liver, kidneys, central nervous system, heart,
lungs, blood, and blood forming tissues. May cause nonspecific symptoms of the digestive tract. May
affect the proper functioning of the eyes. May disrupt the menstrual cycle and cause reproductive
effects. May cause headache, absentmindedness, sleep disturbances, and mood disturbances. Has
been shown to cause reproductive effects in experimental animals.

'He wears nitrile gloves, but has been known to forego the goggles'

scarey, i could see a bad monkey forgoing gloves, but man goggles goggles goggles.

I just thought I'd point out that if you are dealing with lye then you should definitely have at least some vinegar on hand with some paper towels to clean up any spills! Also for those of you doing A/B extractions with muriatic acid then get some sodium carbonate for the same reason. You can't just soak up lye/HCl solutions with a paper towel and throw them away.

i totally agree with ploticus, i was so supprised that it wasnt on the page till the bottom, that one major thing is vinegar, to nutrilize the high ph level luiquids.

Is lye or naphtha bad idea to have in mason jars then?

Even short term lye, 10-30 minutes?

naphtha should be fine in glass. lye does eat glass, but it should be fine as long as you dont keep it in there permanently or boil it in there for a few hours.

If you're reusing the same jars over and over again you might want to inspect them between usages to see if you can see any white stress spots or frosting developing. or just replace them every so often, mason jars are cheap as hell.

as a side note, you can use naoh or koh to clean your glassware if you got some really good cooked on junk. pull off the top few layers of atoms and the junk comes with it!

Everything mentioned. Gloves should be thick industrial type (can purchase at Hardware stores) specifically rated to handle the chemicals you will be using.

Goggles should be used by everyone, including glasses wearers.

Seriously people, respirators should be dual cartridge, not simple paint/surgical masks. It makes a tremendous difference.

Peace, Love & Safety,
Pandora

Here is some more info on acid/base spill cleanup: http://web.princeton.edu...aste/acid-base-spill.htm

Here is the gist of it (print out and read the link above for the full story):

Cleaning Up Spills of Mineral Acids and Bases

Materials Needed (have these on hand before starting)
- Spill mix may be prepared by mixing equal volumes of sodium carbonate, bentonite (clay cat litter) and dry sand. The sodium carbonate helps to neutralize the spill, the bentonite absorbs the liquid and eliminates fumes, and the sand moderates and smothers any reaction that might occur.
- Cold water
- 5% aqueous sodium hydroxide or 5% aqueous hydrochloric acid
[note: sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) can substitute for sodium carbonate (washing soda)]

Procedures
1) Cover the spilled material with enough spill mix to absorb all of the liquid.

2) Fill a plastic pail ¾ full with cold water. Add the spill mixture. Place in fume hood.

3) Test the pH of the solution. If the pH is less than 5, add solid sodium carbonate or 5% aqueous sodium hydroxide to neutralize it. If the pH is more than 9, add 5% aqueous hydrochloric acid to neutralize it. Stir the mixture thoroughly.

4) After the solids have settled, decant the neutral aqueous liquid to the drain.

5) Discard the solid residue in the regular laboratory trash or dry it and reuse it in a spill mix.


also:
- solvent (naptha, limonene, etc.) spills can be cleaned up with vermiculite or bentonite
- work inside a not too small or flimsy plastic tray (e.g., a shallow tote basket) to contain spills when mixing up acids or bases from concentrate
- always add acids or bases to water (not the other way around) slowly