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Techniques for CollectorsTurning Inert Hydrogen Peroxide solution

1st Oct 2010 14:36 UTCAnonymous User

Hello!

Which is the best way to turn Hydrogen Peroxide inert?I heard it decomposes to sunlight,it turns inert with Oxalic acid and Active Carbon by I don't know which is the best to use.

Help would be highly appreciated!

-Kostas.

1st Oct 2010 14:52 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager

Why not just throw it out? It's just water and oxygen - It won't pollute anything.

1st Oct 2010 15:30 UTCSteve Hardinger 🌟 Expert

Hydrogen peroxide can be hazardous in high concentrations, so care must be taken with its use and disposal. If it is the standard 3% solution available in (US) drugstores, then Alfredo is correct: just dump it down the drain. 30% hydrogen peroxide is nasty stuff -- can cause severe skin burns, etc. To dispose of 30% hydrogen peroxide, carefully dilute with a ten-fold (or more) excess of water (use gloves and other saftey equipment), then dump down the drain.

1st Oct 2010 16:08 UTCMark Gottlieb

Not that it matters, nor do I agree with it, but diluting a RCRA Hazardous Waste for disposal purposes is prohibited here in the USA. The resulting mixture is still hazardous waste; it is called the "contained-in" rule. The odds of some state DEP or federal EPA finding out about it are slim to none; but such disposal can be prosecuted as a criminal case.

I don't know how it works elsewhere in the world. I think if the container is left open long enough, you end up with water anyway.

1st Oct 2010 16:32 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager

If anyone has a very large quantity of hydrogen peroxide to throw away, you might consider taking it to dump at the mouth of the Mississippi river, where millions of fish are dead and rotting from lack of oxygen in the water. Any fish there still hanging on to life would probably welcome a little H2O2 in their water and not consider it toxic at all ;)

1st Oct 2010 17:14 UTCDonald Lapham 🌟

Kostas,

As a Hydrogen Peroxide chemist, I can suggest there are many reducing agents that will react to "neutralize" Hydrogen Peroxide (including Sodium Sulfite, Sodium Thiosulfate, and Oxalic Acid). Even Potassium Permanganate (a mildly strong oxidizer) will react with Hydrogen Peroxide and form Manganese Hydroxide and Oxygen. All of these chemicals could result in significant heat generation if the Hydrogen Peroxide is stronger than about 30%. Our bodies contain an enzyme (catalase) that triggers the decomposition of Hydrogen Peroxide to Oxygen and water (so bleeding into the Hydrogen Peroxide would work too - but I don't recommend that). As Mark points out treatment at a non licensed facility is against the law in most countries. Hopefully you have dilute Hydrogen Peroxide and for that disposal to your local sanitary sewer is fine (unless you have thousands of gallons!).

Alfredo - Unfortunately the fish might not appreciate the Peroxide as it is a strong oxidizer and might burn their gills if it reached them before the natural metals and organics in river water decomposed the Peroxide to Oxygen and water.

1st Oct 2010 17:15 UTCKelly Nash 🌟 Expert

Just to address the comment about US law (RCRA, which I have some experience with): 1) household hazardous waste is not regulated by the federal government at all, nor by any states I know of (all bets off in California:-), 2) the so-called "contained in" rule doesn't apply to hydrogen peroxide because it's not a listed hazardous waste, and 3) if it does meet the definition of a reactive waste (and 30% H2O2 might), up to 100 kg. a month can be neutralized on-site by people who are not otherwise regulated hazardous waste generators, treaters, storers or disposers.

1st Oct 2010 17:36 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager

Donald, I'm assuming it would rapidly get diluted and decompose, before reaching any live fish. Most of the fish are already dead anyway. But on the other hand, oxygen is toxic to anaerobic species, so I might get sued by the ASLF (Anaerobic Species Liberation Front) ;)

1st Oct 2010 17:36 UTCMark Gottlieb

Kelly, my work life would be so much easier if Connecticut DEP saw things your way.

3rd Oct 2010 17:12 UTCAnonymous User

Hello!

Thank you all for your replies!I have 30% H.Peroxide.Does anyone has experience in deactivating the solution with reducing agents?

Which is the best (less aggressive) and which is the best way to it?Yes,I guess if I leave it open,it would turn to water anyway,but that's the point.I want to turn it in water as soon as possible,before everything around turns rusty!

I work with galena specimens and they turn oxidized in a blink of an eye when in the solution.Diluting it with water I will still get a low concentration.How do i turn the concentration to 0%?

I am aware of the safety rules and I educate myself about a specific compound before I even buy it.I have a chemistry basis (as a doctor),so all I need is the information.

I recommend all of you (those who are not experienced chemists)do the same,since compounds often mentioned in this forum are often much more dangerous than they sound.H.Peroxide is corrosive to metals and drain it out may result to problems when the drains are metallic.

Thank you all and please post more!

-Kostas.

22nd Oct 2010 22:53 UTCPeter Haas

Hydrogen peroxide is a metastable compound which decomposes upon the slightest activation, according to:

2 H₂O₂ -> 2 H₂O + O₂

This is a so-called redox-disproportionation, where oxygen is reduced and oxidized at the same time (O(-1) -> O(-2) + O(0)). Thus, decomposition does not even require a reducing agent to be added.

The heat of adsorption generated when an H₂O₂ molecule is adsorbed onto a solid surface is sufficient to induce this decompsoition. This is usually seen when a fine-grained material (high specific surface area) comes in contact with the solution (yes - this is not restricted to manganese oxide, although this will react even more violently - simple houshold dust will do the same!), and, for the same reason, the concentration of an H₂O₂ solution will continuously decrease over time (decomposition on solid surfaces).

The heat of reaction generated when the reaction starts will favour the conditions for decomposition, so the reaction usually accelerates itself.

Disposal, therefore, is very simple: First, dilute the 30% solution (as this will decompose violently, generating a fair amount of heat) to around 3%. Then, have a walk in your garden and grab a handful of soil. Put this in the solution. Let it stand for an hour or so and dump it in the sink. Any residual peroxide concentration in that solution is certainly not higher than that in the effluent of your washing machine (unlike in the USA and Canada, where chlorine bleach is used throughout, the Europeans have peroxide bleach in their detergent powders - there are big differences in detergent composition depending on the area of the world you're in).

23rd Oct 2010 04:06 UTCAnonymous User

Hello!

Peter,thank you for you reply!

So,silica gel should fasten the decomposition?It has high surface area.

Thank you!

-Kostas.

23rd Oct 2010 21:19 UTCColleen Thomson Expert

Hi guys - I'm a hairdresser and as such, use hydrogen peroxide all day, every day (and have done for about 30 years!)

I put this chemical on peoples heads - and they PAY me to do it - so I have to know what I'm doing,

we use it because its an efficient oxygenator when used with hair colourants and is esily disposed of after use by flushing away down a basin - usually after it has oxygenated and lost its potency. I can attest that at just 12% the stuff gives quite painful chemical burns if you don't wear gloves!

23rd Oct 2010 21:55 UTCPeter Haas

"So,silica gel should fasten the decomposition?It has high surface area."

Yes, but household dust (mainly cellulose and other organic fibres, minor minerals) and soil are even better. The heat of sorption depends on the properties of the surface and on the sorption mechanism. Organic material also reacts with hydrogen peroxide (oxidation), producing more heat that accelerates the process.

20th May 2013 16:58 UTCXesor

Hydrogen Peroxide build up in hair follicles turns hair gray. How about a solution to deactivate it?

22nd May 2013 23:23 UTCKen Miller

I heard about a week ago ,that a European company has figured out how to do just that!

23rd May 2013 02:23 UTCDoug Daniels

He originally posted in 2010...it may have self-decomposed since then.........

9th Jul 2013 01:01 UTCColleen Thomson Expert

Xesor

Hydrogen Peroxide build up in hair follicles turns hair gray. How about a solution to deactivate it?

thats hysterical :-D where on earth did you hear that old toffee? completely untrue. Sorry if your hair is turning grey (actually its NOT grey, technically its colourless / white, as the hair no longer contains any melanin/ pigment as a result of the cell that produces it no longer functioning) - absolutely nothing to do with H₂O₂

Ken - a team at Bristol University discovered the functionality of the pigment producing cell and came up with a solution in how to reverse its affects - about 15 years ago. They excitedly told the press about how it would revolutionise hair colouring - and then it all went very quiet.......I am a bit dubious as to the integrity of global health / cosmetic corporations who inevitably silence these scientific 'discoveries' by buying into their research and burying it when it may threaten their huge market domination of high street off the shelf colourants.......cynical? absolutely!

Embrace your inner greyness...then go get some hilights, it will make you look and feel fantastic ;-)

15th Nov 2013 18:46 UTCFrank Keutsch Expert

raw potatoes catalytically decompose hydrogen peroxide... Concentrated hydrogen peroxide solutions can react strongly so dilution to 3% and controlled reaction is advised.

15th Nov 2013 21:03 UTCTrevor Dart

In my science classroom we use hydrogen peroxide to make oxygen gas. All we do is catalyse it over manganese dioxide. Once it has reacted the leftover solution is just water. Manganese dioxide is easily obtainable out of any old dry cell battery - black powder - and you don't need much as it doesn't take part in the reaction, just helps it go ahead. This whole process is easily done outside in a bucket slowly adding a small amount of hydrogen peroxide at a time until all of it has decomposed.

Option 2 is to just leave it for 3 years and it will have gone off already...

30th Jan 2014 13:59 UTCU. Kerem Gulcek

Donald,

We have hyrodgen peroxide stored about more than 10 years in pails. Unfortunately, I was not able to find any document stating the concentration. There was not any label existing on the pails either. The pails was stored in a container which is not air conditioned. We are located in Cyprus which means the temperature inside the containers are above 30 °C for 6 months during day time. What do you think about the present condition of the hydrogen peroxide solutions? Do you think we still need reducing agents?

Regards,

Kerem

9th Jan 2022 10:05 UTCVJ Dug

I am trying to find out which substances will prevent the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide in a composition. For example Lugos Iodine solution readily reacts with the hydrogen peroxide to decompose it. I would like to find the antimicrobial chemicals that can be mixed with H2o2 but there is no oxidation reaction between them; or if there is one, how can it be prevented to prevent the decomposition.

Thanks.

VJ Dug

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