Aluminum in Drain Cleaners

[battousai]

I bought a drain cleaner the other day, and it compromises of NaOH in small pellets... about 0.7mm in diameter, and aluminum shavings, about the same size (they look like aluminum foil rolled into balls). Does anyone know how to easily seperate the two? Any ideas will do.

[YT2095]

tweezers

[insane_alien]

do you still want the sodium hydroxide to be in its small pellets?

[YT2095]

I`v encountered a few threads like this asking the same question. and thus far I am yet to see an answer that works well.

 

the only way I can think of that Might do it (other than tweezers) would be to get rid of the Al with Mercury.

but the mix as it stands is a primed reaction waiting to happen.

[frosch45]

I don't think that you would have access to this (I say that because almost no one has access to this) but for the sake of providing an answer....

 

Ever seen those big vibrating tables? They have them in food processing plants. I don't even know the technical term for the process, but basically

 

they are like a centrifuge for solids. They are built on very minute angles and the heavier or bigger material will fall to the bottom of the table, but the lighter or smaller particles will go up on top.

[battousai]

Can one of these tables be made in a smaller version? Can one just make a small cardboard table let's say (so it can be bent to make minute angles) and attach a vibrator, lets say like an automatic razor? Does anyone think something like this is possible?

 

Could a straining sieve work, like one that is used to strain water from boiled rice? Has anyone tried this before?

 

Im also trying to think of a way to do this in a way to prevent the NaOH from converting to Na3CO3. Would performing the process in a small sealed room help this? From chem class we learned that a mole of gas at SATP is 24.8 L and carbon dioxide is less than 1% of the atmosphere right? So wouldn't a small sealed room only have a very limited amount of CO2. Would this work, or would an average room be too ventilated, making this all trivial?

 

Any ideas?

[frosch45]

Well, it may be possible to make the table, but the vibrations do have to be quite powerful and your angle must be quite slight.

 

This all depends too on the fact that some of the foil/NaOH pellets may be different sizes (in the case of your straining idea) or different masses (in the case of the table).

 

As for your CO2 problem, NaOH would be converted into Na2CO3, carbonate has a -2 oxidation state.

 

And yes, an average room would be too ventilated. One way to do it would be to buy yourself a can of Argon from a welding supply shop, and make a makeshift "critical care unit" (the ones that they use for infants that are in danger of dying, its basically a sealed box with gloves attached to one of the sides in which you can grab things on the inside) out of some plexiglass and some glue. Then fill the thing up with argon, seal it, and separate your material.

 

This is still a pretty intense process all for just some NaOH though. You can buy it on the internet.

[jdurg]

Heh. Even if you sealed the room off, unless you found a way to stop breathing you'd just be producing more and more CO2 and thus make the concentration higher.

[frosch45]

True, it would literally have to be a little "incubation box" with gloves.

[hermanntrude]

Can one of these tables be made in a smaller version? Can one just make a small cardboard table let's say (so it can be bent to make minute angles) and attach a vibrator...

 

 

snigger:D