General Forums > Comments for Staff and Comments from Staff

Disposal of Manganese heptoxide

(1/1)

Raggedy_Skainsmate:
Hello dear chemists, I'm a second year student and I've made a little (huge) mistake.

In my lab work today I had to dissolve potassium permanganate on water, but the beaker I took was filled with concentrated sulfuric acid for a later experiment. When pouring the permanganate, manganese heptoxide formed.
It was only until I was on my way home that I understood what had formed. By advice of the teacher I left the beaker on the fume hood so that on my next day at the lab (Tuesday) I disposed of it correctly (she didn't know what it was at the time either since I hadn't determined what the beaker had yet).

After researching on the Web, I am very sure  it is indeed heptoxide, and this raises many issues, mainly that it's an explosive.

I ultimately prepared accidentally 25mL, and when researching the compound there's numerous instances saying "don't upscale the reaction as it might explode".

My question is:

- how do I dispose of this safely?
- should I be concerned of it suddenly exploding before Tuesday?

Borek:
How concentrated was the acid?

Corribus:
If you are at University, contact your University's hazardous waste official, explain what happened, and ask for advice. If you are otherwise, you should contact your local government hazardous waste official and do the same. if you are concerned about any potentially dangerous laboratory product, you're better off contacting experts. Don't try to dispose of it yourself.

Navigation

[0] Message Index