Please look at the SOP on a similar topic... http://www.ehs.ucr.edu/laboratory/quenching_reactive_metal_still_bottoms.html Russell Vernon, Ph.D. russell.vernon**At_Symbol_Here**ucr.edu www.ehs.ucr.edu (951) 827-5119 -----Original Message----- From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Mubetcel Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2009 9:42 AM To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Tulsa Lab Incident John, The method for decomposing sodium metal sound pretty dangerous if conducted improperly. I was wondering if you could give some specifics of it, especially what not to do and the amounts, speed and the order of adding the chemicals you mention for those of us who might consider using this method. I quote your word below: "As a grad student, I cleaned out a lot of active metal + flammable solvent still flasks and found that the best way to decompose the metal is to add dichloromethane, 2-propanol and water. The dichloromethane blankets the metal and prevents a fire from starting. The 2-propanol acts as a phase transfer catalyst and the water decomposes the metal. I never had a fire with this technique." Thank you very much in advance. Mubetcel
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