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Topic: The most effective chemical to dissolve dried blood?  (Read 14351 times)

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Offline guccyi

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The most effective chemical to dissolve dried blood?
« on: January 13, 2014, 03:17:29 PM »
Hello guys, I'm currently working on a project and have a quick question about blood.

I'm a mechanical engineer, so I'm very new to this stuff, so please bear with me.

So I'm trying to find a fastest reactive chemical that can dissolve dried blood (24 hours or up) on a plastic surface.

I've tried hydrogen peroxide, salt water, enzymes and even vinegar, but it seems like they don't break down the blood fast enough.

Any help guys? thank you so much for you time.


Sincerely,

-Guccyi

Offline billnotgatez

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Re: The most effective chemical to dissolve dried blood?
« Reply #1 on: January 13, 2014, 03:41:19 PM »
Have you tried all of these

COLD water, ammonia, windex spray, your own spit (!), meat tenderizer, table salt, baking soda, commercial spot or stain removers.

Offline guccyi

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Re: The most effective chemical to dissolve dried blood?
« Reply #2 on: January 13, 2014, 04:00:22 PM »
Have you tried all of these

COLD water, ammonia, windex spray, your own spit (!), meat tenderizer, table salt, baking soda, commercial spot or stain removers.

I've tried the most, I guess I'm going to need to keep trying different stuff.
Thank you anyway!

-Guccyi

Offline Corribus

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Re: The most effective chemical to dissolve dried blood?
« Reply #3 on: January 13, 2014, 04:14:42 PM »
What was the strength of the peroxide you used? 30% behaves very different from the 3% stuff you buy at the drug store.

Also, have you tried nitric acid? It is a very strong acid plus a strong oxidant.  You might also try various concentrations of bleach (hypochlorite). Just don't mix it with ammonia, please.

It might help to know whether you are doing this at home or in a well-equipped chemistry lab. This will help us understand the kinds of reagents you might have access to.
What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were like a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?  - Richard P. Feynman

Offline guccyi

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Re: The most effective chemical to dissolve dried blood?
« Reply #4 on: January 13, 2014, 04:22:17 PM »
What was the strength of the peroxide you used? 30% behaves very different from the 3% stuff you buy at the drug store.

Also, have you tried nitric acid? It is a very strong acid plus a strong oxidant.  You might also try various concentrations of bleach (hypochlorite). Just don't mix it with ammonia, please.

It might help to know whether you are doing this at home or in a well-equipped chemistry lab. This will help us understand the kinds of reagents you might have access to.

Hello Corribus, Thank you so much for your thoughts.
I'm currently working at a chemistry lab, so I can obtain any chemicals that laboratories use.
So I was first using 3% peroxide, but it wouldn't work for my application because it was lathering too much.
I'll definitely try nitric acid though, thank you so much.

-guccyi

Offline Corribus

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Re: The most effective chemical to dissolve dried blood?
« Reply #5 on: January 13, 2014, 04:29:40 PM »
Ok, so it will also be useful to know what your intended need is. By "dissolve", I assume you don't really mean "dissolve" in the chemical sense but "decompose", meaning to get rid of the pigment. The pigment in blood is heme, and a good way to destroy it is oxidation. Peroxide should do the job, but 3% is pretty weak and the reaction will be slow. This is why I suggest any number of other strong oxidants, including higher percentage of peroxide, nitric acid or bleach. Safe (stable) organic peroxides may also work. Do be careful with the stronger oxidizing agents, as they can be dangerous to handle.

One other thing. Some polymers may react with strong oxidants, so just keep this in mind. I don't know what kind of plastic you are using, but I suggest a spot test on a clean part of the surface before you try out any of the strong stuff, lest you remove half your plastic along with the blood.
« Last Edit: January 14, 2014, 06:32:46 AM by billnotgatez »
What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were like a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?  - Richard P. Feynman

Offline guccyi

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Re: The most effective chemical to dissolve dried blood?
« Reply #6 on: January 14, 2014, 11:04:07 AM »
Ok, so it will also be useful to know what your intended need is. By "dissolve", I assume you don't really mean "dissolve" in the chemical sense but "decompose", meaning to get rid of the pigment. The pigment in blood is heme, and a good way to destroy it is oxidation. Peroxide should do the job, but 3% is pretty weak and the reaction will be slow. This is why I suggest any number of other strong oxidants, including higher percentage of peroxide, nitric acid or bleach. Safe (stable) organic peroxides may also work. Do be careful with the stronger oxidizing agents, as they can be dangerous to handle.

One other thing. Some polymers may react with strong oxidants, so just keep this in mind. I don't know what kind of plastic you are using, but I suggest a spot test on a clean part of the surface before you try out any of the strong stuff, lest you remove half your plastic along with the blood.

Thank you so much, I really appreciate for your help Corribus, it helped a lot.
God bless ya!

-Guccyi

Offline billnotgatez

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Re: The most effective chemical to dissolve dried blood?
« Reply #7 on: January 14, 2014, 03:29:15 PM »
@guccyi
Please let us know what finally worked

Offline ingafreeman

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Re: The most effective chemical to dissolve dried blood?
« Reply #8 on: January 15, 2014, 10:13:09 PM »
Have you tried all of these

COLD water, ammonia, windex spray, your own spit (!), meat tenderizer, table salt, baking soda, commercial spot or stain removers.

I've tried the most, I guess I'm going to need to keep trying different stuff.
Thank you anyway!

Yess cold water , table salt and baking soda are OK

-Guccyi

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