Purification of Sulfuric Acid by Distillation - Revisited

In this video we purify sulfuric acid again using distillation but improve our technique using a ceramic hotplate stirrer and PTFE tape to seal the joints.
I start by highlighting the inherent dangers associated with handling sulfuric acid and stress the importance of safety precautions, including wearing protective clothing and performing the procedure in a well-ventilated area or fume hood.
I explain why obtaining purified sulfuric acid is essential for certain chemistry experiments and discuss common sources of impure sulfuric acid, such as drain cleaner or battery acid. I then detail the equipment needed for the distillation process and share improvements I've made, like using a ceramic hotplate stirrer and PTFE pipe threading tape for sealing joints.
Throughout the video, I emphasize safety measures, such as using a containment bin to mitigate potential glassware failure and avoiding direct contact with boiling sulfuric acid. I provide tips for recognizing when pure sulfuric acid begins to distill over and explain the challenges of achieving concentrations higher than 98%.
Additionally, I address safety protocols for handling spills or accidents involving sulfuric acid, including neutralization procedures and the importance of protective gear. I also discuss the chemical properties of sulfuric acid and its various applications in chemistry.
Overall, this video serves as a comprehensive guide to safely purifying sulfuric acid for laboratory use while highlighting the risks involved and the precautions necessary to mitigate them.
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[@NurdRage]

Ya know, i keep talking about how dangerous it is, i'm tempted to demonstrate it by pouring boiling acid on something.

[@aarocka11]

Do it. It’s what our Lord and Savior NileRed would want.

[@John.Flower.Productions]

Turning the fume hood off would have demonstrated the most immediate danger.

[@custos3249]

Face reveal?

[@Wreaktifier]

Raw eggs are a good example, they blacken from the reaction in addition to cooking from the heat of the reaction.

[@serraramayfield9230]

@@custos3249never

[@dav1dsm1th]

I put "Caution: Coffee may be hot" and "Warning: Boiling sulfuric acid is extremely corrosive" in the same "If you need telling this, you really shouldn't be playing with it" category 🙂 Thanks for the videos. Always interesting and entertaining.

[@MadScientist267]

Indeed but the joke about modern car maintenance (valves/battery)... Let's just say you never know 🤣

[@scrappydoo7887]

Not just that, there's the "DO NOT EVER HAVE THE CHANCE TO GET WATER IN BOILING SULPHURIC ACID" it's way too fast a way to get to hospital really fast and never look the same again lol

[@josuelservin]

The problem is that we don't know what we don't know, so when someone who knows repeats that something is very dangerous I have learned to pay attention even if it seem annoying, because it probably will save my bacon...

[@MadScientist267]

@@scrappydoo7887 You have a good point. I'm aware of many of the various dangers with sulfuric acid, including not adding water to it at reasonable temperatures... I suppose I never extended that to the extreme case of the acid being already at boiling temp... common sense says it's going to result in flash boiling of the liquid yet the thought hadn't crossed my mind as such. The mention appreciated indeed, just in case there's a day that comes.

[@scrappydoo7887]

@@MadScientist267 it's all good 👍 that's why we are all here. I've seen a single large drop of water going into a beaker of boiling Sulphuric acid and it basically all jumped out of the beaker. It's extremely fast and stupidly dangerous. For context it was the process of "wet ashing" bga chips for the recovery of gold bond wires outdoors. It was done under a corrugated tin shelter that the person didn't realise leaked. A small shower ensued and while we were out of the way the water got into the process and the result was that violent it was heard from ten feet away. We looked around to see white fumes everywhere and multiple spots we had stood soaked in hot sulphuric. Extremely scary

[@richardunruh4035]

Excellent video, as usual. Tip for distillations that yield corrosive / poisonous gasses (like distilling nitric acid via H2SO4 + KNO3): I modified a small cheap fish tank air pump so it provided vacuum rather than pressure. After the water was driven off in the beginning of the distillation I routed the gaseous byproducts through a sealed glass jar containing NaOH prills and pulled a slight vacuum through the NaOH with the "vacuum pump". The vacuum was only enough to prevent escape from the joints in the apparatus and the NaOH captured the NOx. I did all this because I made my own fume hood and I didn't want to depend on it as my one and only defense against escaping NOx. Please, if any professionals out there note that this method actually creates a hazard I'd love to hear about it.

[@ivant5054]

careful with passing it over solid NaOH since the reaction can be quite violent if, let's say, a bit of acid were to come over, it's better to bubble it through a concentrated NaOH solution with a trap before teflon tape is your best friend

[@richardunruh4035]

@@ivant5054 Sorry for the delayed reply. You're right, which is why I had a trap upstream of the NaOH. I experienced a suck-back explosion once (fortunately just water). That taught me the lesson about sealed pressure/vacuum systems. They will bite you if you let them!

[@Don_Soucy]

@@richardunruh4035 You knew I was a snake, before you took me in. boiling H2SO4 oh yeah.

[@adrianpip2000]

I think it might be worth mentioning that PTFE has a much higher thermal expansion coefficient than borosilicate glass. In practical terms, this means that you shouldn't use too much PTFE tape on the joints, because you might risk cracking the glass joint as the temperature increases. I've had this happen at least one time (though I wasn't doing anything critical or dangerous).

[@eccentricelectrician1904]

Doesn't matter if its glass or steel. Too much tape leads to leaks

[@Cornz38]

More of these updated re-runs please for us "prepper chemists". Such as creating the 3 basic acids easily.

[@j_sum1]

My first major accident in a home lab setting was when boiling down sulfuric acid that I made by copper sulfate electrolysis. I had around 200mL at I estimate 80% when it bumped and the 1 litre beaker landed on the concrete floor. I did get some splashes of boiling sulfuric acid on my ankles and some clothing was ruined. A garden hose prevented serious injury. It was a good lesson to learn, but not the best way to learn it.

[@barfbot]

stuff like that callout about azeotrope actually being sulphur trioxide is what makes these videos awesome!

[@EdwardTriesToScience]

i can vouch for boiling sulfuric acid, it violently dissolves a hot dog until there's nothing left, along with wood, plastic, rubber, nitrile, and basically everything else that is organic. not something to play with, especially without some kinda of thick, non melting glove (leather welding gloves can survive small splashes and prevent burns but dont rely on it) great video as always, ceramic hot plates are the best! i got three of them (two made one commercial, homemade uses corning parts and commercial one is a trusty thermolyne SP131325) and theyve been running the lab nicely for years, i had an aluminum one i built but the aluminum definitely softened at 400c or so, i also simply just didnt like the feel of glass on aluminum

[@fmdj]

4:50 ahahah you said PTFE tape right when I opened the comments to write that PTFE tape made a pretty good job at sealing joints for distilling H2SO4 - the trick is to wrap it reaaal tight and to not go further than the stopper / male joint or even to stop slightly before that to limit the quantity of PTFE that gets exposed to the H2SO4 vapors. For plugging openings such as with a 3-neck round bottom flask or other glassware necks that need to be plugged normal chemistry rubber plugs also do a surprisingly good job. The part exposed to the H2SO4 will carbonise, but it does so in a slow manner and once the carbon is there it kinda protects the rest and doesn't pollute the solution (H2SO4 will just convert a bit of it to CO2 I guess). Rubber seals do an excellent job in this scenario, even though they get a few milliliters shaved off each time. I'm currently working on a device that should be able to plug one neck of a round bottom flask hermetically even to H2SO4 vapors while letting a stirring rod stir the H2SO4 during distillation - cuz my homemade heating mantle doesn't have a stirrer and as you said, H2SO4 bumping is one of the most terrifying things I have ever seen.

[@knglaser]

have you tried putting two glass tubes long enough to stand in the round bottom flask, and sanding them down to a opaque white finish ? this worked for me when I did not have stirring.

[@MadScientist267]

​@@knglaserHow does that work?

[@knglaser]

@@MadScientist267 nucleation sites distributed through the entire depth, without hindering the convection as a big pile of glass shards on the bottom would do.

[@MadScientist267]

@@knglaser Hmmm interesting... ok cool thanks

[@fmdj]

@@knglaser no but I'm very much intrigued, your idea sounds pretty good and I'm definitely gonna try that! I was thinking of insulating magnets in a glass rod with a bend in the shape of a T at the end and rotate that with a motor and magnets but from the top of the round bottom flask where 1) I have access and 2) the temperature is less insane. But if your method works I'm definitely trying it first, thx.

[@NautsuJJR]

its good to see you revisiting classics and updating them

[@lexer_]

I always apprechiate safety disclaimers like theses because telling people not to do something never works. Explaining how to be as safe as possible and providing as much information as possible on not only how to avoid accidents but also how to handle one pragmtically in case it inevitably happens anyway is probably the best possible approach. I am just a bit sad that there is no possible way this is not demonitized right from the start.

[@Tom_Johnsen]

A stainless steel food tray, commonly known as a hotel pan can be found used practically free, and can be found in sizes about the same as your plastic tub.

[@djsnowman06]

I've also seen them advertised as "Anti-jam pans"

[@mernokimuvek]

And concentrated sulfuric acid will passivate stainless steel, protecting it from corrosion. Nitric acid will do the same.

[@moszeusz]

In Poland we say: kwas siarkowy to krew przemysłu chemicznego, which means: sulfuric acid is a blood of chemical industry.

[@leichenkocher]

Good saying! It is said the industrial output of a country can be measured by consumption of H2SO4/year.

[@phobos1963]

H2SO4 Is truly an amazing compound, not only its first proton has a negative pKa, but it's perfect for dehydrations, as SO4 2- cannot do substitution reactions, it's one of the pillars of organic chemistry really

[@dxdgdhdx]

Polacy tutaj, tego się nie spodziewałem

[@brainandforce]

@@leichenkocher It's also really, really bad when a lot of blood gets spilled.

[@rezzer7918]

Cool. Poland Rules! 🇵🇱

[@bigjay875]

I love the safety aspect of this channel and ya saved me from making major mistakes in event I have a major accident. Thanks

[@hankslimes]

G’day from Down Under - love to see an upload from you brother! As for demonstrating the effect of boiling sulfuric acid my suggestions would be getting a little on a lab coat or an old pair of shoes. Point being, “look how fast it can get through to you”.

[@TheIdeanator]

Ive always wondered if PTFE tape would work for joints. Glad to see it stands up to one of the meaner amateur processes.

[@friendly_alkali]

fwiw i think the safety information/discussion of risk mitigation isn't doom and gloom and is actually interesting. i wish more chemistry videos talked through their risk analysis process like that for more procedures

[@twocvbloke]

Here in the UK, wet lead acid batteries now have to be pre-filled by whoever you buy them from because of the alarmingly frequent acid attacks, the logic being that people aren't smart enough to work out to remove the caps and tip it all back out again, gotta love the brains behind the laws... :\

[@mfbfreak]

You overestimate the intelligence of people. It can be done, but it's another hurdle to take.

[@robertthabassist]

By people, you mean muslims...

[@oxylepy2]

Look, during the eclipse people were calling stores to ask if they had eclipse glasses. During the eclipse, when the time to travel to and make a purchase from the store is greater than the time the eclipse takes. There is always a portion of the population that should have failed to thrive by that point in their lives, and it's a government's goal to keep those people thriving.

[@ShortArmOfGod]

"People"

[@anondimwit]

arnt all wet acid batteries pre filled?

[@chriscarley9951]

Thank you so much for the revisit and the improved techniques. I did a little searching around. I was able to find myself a ceramic hot plate stirrer at a real nice price. Thank you so much!

[@FreyaYou-z4p]

Hi.,if you need anything, you can contact me to learn about product information and prices.

[@D3ltaLabs]

I haven't watched one of your videos in years. They are just as I remembered.

[@andrewtreat7371]

Wow this video is so oddly timed! I’ve been distilling sulfuric acid (with proper PPE and safety precautions mind you) over the past couple days. Weird! Very well done as always, Dr. Lithium.

[@olimp231]

Hi. Thanks for another excellent video. I found on other channels this hint: use a few pieces of broken terracotta pot instead of a stir bar. It worked excellent for me and it's dirt cheap. I've tried other materials like broken glass but it was terrible. Terracotta is the best.

[@mapple35]

for some reason i thought you stopped posting? I watched you so much in early youtube around 2010, im glad your videos are showing up in my feed again!

[@quackerzdb]

That's a great tip with the teflon tape. Thanks!

[@nunyabisnass1141]

What I like most about this channel is that you explain the safety concerns pretty well. As an amateur/hobby chemist, distilling sulfuric acid is not something I will ever attempt due to the safety concerns. Not will I ever work with chromates or mercury.

[@neutronpcxt372]

It's very nice that you're revisiting this. Regarding electroplating, do you think it'll ever be possible for you to make a video on electroplating copper on aluminium? It's one of the holy grails of electroplating.

[@NurdRage]

Electroplating? like solid aluminum onto a solid part at room or slightly warm temperature? or just making aluminum by electrolysis? which comes out as a liquid since the electrolyte is molten hot? The two processes require radically different approaches. it can be done, but i don't think by amateur means.

[@neutronpcxt372]

@@NurdRage Sorry if I wasn't very clear. I meant plating a metal onto an aluminium sheet like copper. Copper plating on aluminium is a notoriously difficult thing to do outside of industrial processes and a lot of them are hidden by trade secrets.

[@flomojo2u]

​@neutronpcxt372 Plating metals directly onto aluminum is tough, so usually a basic zincate pre-plating step is employed, then copper, then whatever metal you're interested in, assuming it's not copper. You must use alkaline plating solutions when working with aluminum, which unfortunately means cy*nide copper plating vs the more accessible acid plating solutions. There are many examples of how to plate aluminum out there, including on YT, so a few searches help. Electroplating/electrodeposition can be a complicated process once you get away from working with vinegar and salt solutions, so you need to do some work to understand what's going on, as often you'll get unusable results due to stresses or other issues. It also often involves highly toxic and carcinogenic metal salts, so an awareness of how to treat them AND dispose of them is critical, ie don't dump them down the drain.

[@neutronpcxt372]

@@flomojo2u Yeah, I know about all of this. I found a paper which I managed to replicate and get to plating on aluminium. The issue is that importing the necessary chemical was expensive and therefore not available to the general public. To be fair, that was done years ago when I wasn't nearly as good as chemistry and when I had rather... suboptimal plating equipment. I now have a MMO electrode and large pyrolitic graphite sheets which make plating so much easier and simpler. One surprising thing for pyrolitic graphite is that it seems to be more chemically stable than normal graphite, which is weird. I haven't seen this in litterature (I am likely blind).

[@5467nick]

@@neutronpcxt372 Pyrolitic graphite has stronger bonding between the graphene sheets than normal graphite, so they're less prone to breaking apart. Even better is amorphous carbon or "glassy" carbon, though it's not as easy to make. Do you have a specific project in mind with trying to plate copper onto aluminum? I've never tried electroplating anything onto aluminum.

[@ransombot]

PTFE tape decomposes at those temps and produces toxic gasses. You were doing it in a fume hood which is a must have for that. Something you didn't mention and is probably the least major thing doing that but worth noting as it's dangerous and starts at around 260. Even if it's stable and doesn't really have issues till about 400 that are noticable.

[@MrMilliemight]

I was wondering about that as well, but I have some doubts that the PTFE is getting to the full 337C since it's not in the main path of heat flow. Still it should be considered as a secondary hazard though and shouldn't be done around household pets since they're more sensitive to the gases and usual outside or in a fume hood rules apply.

[@NurdRage]

You're not wrong, PTFE degradation releases tiny amounts of toxic compounds. At these temperatures and quantities you're getting a few milligrams of it. While it is toxic, a few milligrams is not a lot (or else the millions of teflon cookware owners would be dead from all the times they accidentally burned their cookware). But let me tell you the much bigger issue of PTFE in boiling hot sulfuric acid: THE BOILING HOT SULFURIC ACID. A lot of these comments are missing the forest for the trees. The 800mL of boiling hot sulfuric acid can take off your flesh and eat you right to the bone... and the bone itself. The sulfuric acid and sulfur trioxide vapors are produced in gram quantities, not milligram, grams. And those vapors burn so bad that the 0.01% of fluorocarbon vapor will just be seasoning. Having good ventilation, containment procedures, and protection is required for the ACID. The PTFE safety just rolls into that. Worrying about the PTFE degradation with boiling sulfuric acid is like worrying about lead poisoning after being shot... yes, lead poisoning is not good... But you kinda have bigger issues like those bullet holes in you squirting blood. Fix that and you'll fix the lead poisoning issue automatically. Lay out and completely handle the boiling sulfuric acid issues... and the PTFE issues will be handled too.

[@ransombot]

​@@MrMilliemight I agree. However, I doubt that one layer of PTFE tape is enough mass to elevate it to a significant secondary concern for humans. It might be a concern for birds and small rodents, but probably not for humans in a room, as opposed to a closet. Or done multiple times a day. That said, this is just my speculation, and not to be taken as advice. Nurd's protocol made it a non-issue. The real issue is when someone sees someone using PTFE at high temperatures on the internet and thinks it's ok and doesn't do their own due diligence. But I doubt they read the comments anyways. 🤷

[@ransombot]

@@leocurious9919 6:04 he talks about why he likes stirring. He then elaborates on it and talks more about that point at 16:25 and talked about why he used a PTFE one. It may change due to elevation but if you don't need to make your own it's more accessible.

[@MrMilliemight]

@@NurdRage fair enough 😂

[@jennastephens1224]

Thanks for the tip about the steel pan! I actually got some deep serving pans for free (they were very dented from heavy use in a resturant for years). If my setup fails, well, at least I know that any stuck on food that I didn't manage to scrub away will just burn away

[@bobdole57]

Its great you keep posting these videos around the same time I need to purify my acids

[@timmer9lives]

Really a great informative video. I'd love to see your electroplating projects also. Thanks again for posting.

[@ScrapScience]

Awesome! I've always been too scared to try this, and probably will continue to be for the forseeable future. Great to see how it's done though, especially on a scale like this.

[@harms123]

Very nice. I appreciate the safety warnings. Can't imagine the horror of having an accident with boiling sulfuric acid. If you're going to pour it on something then I'd suggest some kind of meat. Then there's even a "Something like this would happen to ya if ya spill it on ya", and more importantly, it would look very neat I think lol.

[@9daywonda]

Great to see you uploading on a fairly regular basis. Happy Easter man.

[@imikla]

Great video on it's own, and excellent follow up to the original! Definitely going to give some of these adjustments a try on my next run.

[@ninogomes6721]

Благодарим ви!

[@NurdRage]

thank you so much!

[@jamisontaylor878]

Love the videos as always! And I understand that some people can't get 98% sulfuric acid . But 20.00 a bottle for cup of acid for about six hours labor lol and 89.00 for four cups is only good math without all that heat dangerous fumes/deadly fumes. Love the tape idea thank you😊

[@DangerousLab]

I always have concerns about using PTFE tape and a stir bar for this experiment as 337C is well above the recommended usage for it, it's good to see that it actually works to an extent, I will definitely try using PFTE tape as a joint seal as conc. sulfuric acid as grease is a little bit unreliable. On a side note, I have tried broken clay pot pieces that seem to work best as makeshift boiling chips, while broken glass is the worst as I think it induces more superheating spots in the flask.

[@ElectronPower]

As always, great video! One thing I'd like to point out, regarding the use of PTFE tape is, that it can start decomposing and give off toxic fumes at the temperatures of boiling sulfuric acid. How much and whether that would pose a threat or not, I don't know, but the rate of decomposition increases significantly, above around the b.p. of H2SO4.

[@broregret]

I remember getting a design constraint when i was designing equipment for the semiconductor industry that said my containment should hold against all spills for at least 5 minutes to allow building evacuation. Over the next month, I became educated as to how difficult this requirement was to meet. And that's how i became a hobby chemist. 🙂

[@ianbottom7396]

Just spent nearly a month working on a sulphuric acid plant, not sure exactly it’s product capacity but they export 3000 metric tonnes daily. Fortunately the risks during the shutdown are much lower although there were still repairs inside in several of the reaction vessels and also the replacement of the Vanadium Pentoxide catalyst in the converter. The suits and decontamination requirements for those working inside seemed very thorough, fortunately that didn’t include me 😂. I’ve always been careful with the small quantities I keep but this experience has only increased my awareness and I’m quite happy to leave distillation of it to someone else 😂. Also thought I’d mention the product that is used in the event of inadvertent skin or eye contact is called Diphoterene apparently it is very effective at neutralising acid (and alkali) and I was told will also neutralise the nasty oleum residues that I believe is more dangerous than the acid 😳

[@NicholasA231]

I think I recognize that hotplate. 🙂 I'm glad it's getting put to good use!

[@NurdRage]

Thanks man 😊

[@gtb81.]

This makes me glad i was able to just order some online, had to get some for a soda acid fire extinguisher recharge.

[@wvcruffler123]

Love the channel. Been trying to make antimony trichloride from antimony oxide (because Antimony III Cl is expensive as hell). Thus far I am still getting too much antimony oxychloride. My guess is distillation is the answer but I haven’t bought that bit of chemistry set yet!

[@erikhartwig6366]

OMFG! that bump @3:21 made me flinch!!!

[@kaboom4679]

That was a rare moment . All the voices yelled " NOPE " at the same exact moment .

[@TruthresonatorWWJD]

I have to take chemistry, and I need help understanding chemistry, good job with the video

[@Mr-yf5tl]

Thank you for what you provided, and I hope for the ammonium perchlorate episode

[@charlesurrea1451]

I use the same type of bin on doing this process as well. However, I like to walk around a bit so I line the bottom with calcium carbonate to give it a fighting chance if I do get a boil over

[@ethanmye-rs]

Man, I tried this a while ago, and managing the heat is difficult. I used a mantle with a stir bar directly below. Even with stiring, I still saw bumping issues. Did not know about drain cleaner being g a waste product, very interesting!

[@djdrack4681]

great video as always...The tissue method is classic 'tried and true'. How can you store pure sulphuric acid on molecular sieves w/o the acid destroying the sieves? I've always found that to be interesting.

[@fireworkstarter]

Its probaly a made of a ceramic thats more favorable than the sulphates it can make and so wont react to form anything.

[@zevakikel]

Very entertaining! Thanks for sharing!

[@DonnyHooterHoot]

Great video! You have, IMHO, really improved your cadence and pronunciation. Very nice.

[@-Chooka]

I use thread tape for everything with a joint, it has always worked well.

[@jackmclane1826]

I don't have a stirrer at this temps, so I put the whole setup on a shaky table with a magnetic actuator (a big solenoid switched by a relay controlled by arduino to tune it to resonance). It swirled around the hot acid very nicely and prevented bumping. But you need clamps on your setup, or it will wiggle itself apart. I also didn't know stir bars would survive 350°C.

[@mackdog3270]

Honestly, I'm not a chemist, beyond the everyday chemistry most people perform. It kind of surprises me that more chemists don't use teflon tape. You can get it anywhere and it's inert (I think) to most chemicals and it has a reasonably high temperature range. Personally, I use it for all sorts of things outside of standard plumbing and it works well.

[@superdupergrover9857]

Get the highest quality PTFE tape available. Not just for the lab, but in general. It's still cheap, and it's so important in it's use that it makes sense to do so. Generally, you want to look for the yellow gas line rated tape. It is very thick, so you need far less wraps than cheaper tapes. It contains a variety of preservatives and anti-corrosive agents as well.

[@chrisroberts3917]

Not terrified, but a healthy respect. Edit: I think high levels of fear easily causes mistakes.

[@EternalxFrost]

But too much confidence as well

[@64Pete]

I'm curious what metal you will be plating with. Looking forward to the process anywho. ✌🇦🇺

[@RedDogForge]

you're by far the best chemistry demonstrator on youtube. thank you for emphasizing safety practices. as an aside id love to see your take on metal chemistry like chromium. also really looking forward to your metal etching project that your working on.

[@borhex]

I was fascinated when introduced to SARU - Spent Acid Regeneration Unit, erection of all components was just about to be complete, and we are to commission the unit... the spent acid comes in the form H2SO3, we burn it to get SO2 and catalytic react to get SO3, participate the soot and then run the gas through a glass tube with water dripping down the walls and absorbing the SO3 to become H2SO4... I realised then that it is actually, as pointed out, a solution of sulfur trioxide in water up to 98% concentration. (Of course I pored it on sugar to get the black worm of doom...I don't work there anymore)

[@anotheruser9876]

Interesting video. Question, how do you clean the glassware afterwards, considering to add acid to the water and not the other way around?

[@NurdRage]

First I dump the residue into water, a little at a time. Then once the flask is empty, I can pour water into it. There is so little that pouring water changes the temperature very little.

[@Steevo69]

Ace hardware sells a double bagged sulphuric acid drain cleaner at 90% and 10% water. Its double bagged, for good reason. I needed some to clean drains but the double bag caused it to slip from my hand, about 6 Oz spilled on the ground and started interacting with the calcium based rocks in asphalt and heating the asphalt binder. I had a leaking gallon jug of high grade sulphuric acid with the bag half full, I put it into the bed of my pickup truck. It ate the white paint off and the primer, about 12 Oz escaped. I made 5 gallons of baking soda water that was oversaturated, the sulphuric acid went directly into a 5 gallon bucket that was clean and empty, with a bare hand. 5 minutes on my hand and it only felt like a tingle and the skin wasn't damaged. I rinsed the bed of my pickup with a gallon of my saturated water and I drove it back to the pavement it was on, it bubbled a lot and about 3 gallons and it was done and left a light mark on the asphalt.

[@woofy1988]

Man, I've seen teflon tape used for so many sealing applications now that I'm convinced it can be used to seal anything

[@TheEsseboy]

Too bad it is a forever chemical, I collect it in a special marked container for when I need to get rid of it, shouldn't be thrown into regular trash :( Such great polymer, why are they always bad somehow )

[@Enjoymentboy]

For some reason I take comfort in knowing that NurdRage uses the exact same drain cleaner acid as I do. :)

[@WindowsTutorial772]

Make Zinc Powder by Electrolysis : Q. for aluminum, same process can be done with sodium aluminate ??

[@Zulu87351]

Would definitely like to see you recover those base metal sulfate salts from your copper nitrate nitric acid recovery video.

[@drmarine1771]

Legend. Best chanel. Don't know what it is . I'm fascinated with acids.

[@yugbe]

I have taken to using two bins. The first bin actually has water in it, and the second bin sits in the first bin. I use bricks to keep it weighed down and to offer a source of cooling should there be a spill. But, this aids in the protection just a bit more.

[@monknotmonknot4053]

If you ever want to upgrade the plastic bin to a steel one check out kitchen supply stores. They might have something that would work for you and they usually are not to pricey.

[@PlasmaPro8]

Amazing, exactly what i've been searching for. So using PTFE at that high temperature is okay?

[@nunyabisnass1141]

Mostly, yes. In this application it surprised me that it held up so well.

[@Jon12p]

LAH reactions are pretty fun too

[@王文煥-l4w]

is vacuum distillation available for sulfuric acid?

[@rogierodjokarijo4712]

I've never seen or heard of a vacuum distillation method for sulfuric acid but I'm assuming that it would be extremely difficult and hazardous as you would still be distilling ~220 C with an extremely high vacuum pump and H2SO4 vapor at those temperatures will definitely destroy your expensive vacuum pump

[@MuzikBike]

Did you private those old unlisted failure videos (e.g. guanidine, matches w/sulfuric acid) manually or was that youtube's doing?

[@NurdRage]

KZbin did that

[@jimsvideos7201]

The earlier apparatus having a sneeze was good for a genuine flinch.

[@parcydwr]

This is a great video. I am wondering if you could use hot water as the cooling water to get less thermal stresses in the distillation tube?... and how hot could that water be?

[@justinowens8834]

I don't think I'll be distilling acids, so I'll just watch you do it. 😂

[@jacobcoates8761]

Bro that sulfuric acid blow out was wild

[@BigMyz]

So others use PTFE tape instead of messy grease? Awesome!

[@y33t23]

In Europe they sell 15% H2SO4 for pool use, should be rather pure. I think if I ever do this I'll use that and boil it like you said until the boiling flask contains the 98% concentrated stuff so I don't actually have to deal with gaseous sulfuric acid. The time this will take with a 1 liter Erlenmeyer is probably gonna be insane but you gotta do what you gotta do if you really want to do chemistry here.

[@wiezba2910]

in poland i ordered 3l of 96% sulfuric acid drain cleaner and it was very pure the funny part is that it was not protected at all just 3 bottles tossed into a box too big for them without any danger label on the box

[@y33t23]

@@wiezba2910 I'm so jealous that you guys have Hydraulik, that's godsent. Sadly I don't speak any polish or live close to the border so I can't get that.

[@tahallium]

does the battery acid unopened contain any ions? like lead? or is it good for analytical chemistry

[@NurdRage]

It should be good. Sometimes there are additives, but those should be listed somewhere. Otherwise it should be pure.

[@kaboom4679]

Battery manufacturers have very stringent requirements for the acid they use , and require very low levels of metal ion contaminates . They will absolutely reject any prospective seller that even has periodic , random , issues with their acid testing out of spec , even if individual batches DO meet the spec . This often happens in large process capture of sulphuric acid as a byproduct of ore smelting , which typically employ electrolytic anti corrosion measures on their bulk storage tanks . Inconsistencies caused by a fault or failure will tend to produce out of spec ( for battery grade acid ) levels of nickel and chromium contamination in the acid , and , it can be a major PIA to identify the source / cause , if they do not have any monitoring / data logging of their anti corrosion systems . Even when they do it is often the last thing they think to check when this problem arises .

[@greenleaf6513]

finally u comeback

[@seansingh4421]

A new NurdRage video ? My day (fck even week) got a lot better

[@MathewTitus]

Using Sulphic Acid might be a great way of making charcoal without having to burn anything. It also is a great way to keep the cellular structure intact enough to make super-capacitors after the carbon is changed into graphene.

[@Scientificexploration]

for those who've seen cold drain cleaner acid on skin, trust me BOILING H2SO4 is completely different and no joke!

[@heyihavenoclue7541]

Great Video! I have a question: you didnt use the PTFE Tape on the receiving roundbottom flask where you collected the concentrated sulfuric acid, why? Is that because it isnt tightly held ?and I also wanted to ask if the apparature is a closed system or if that was a vaccuum outlet I saw around 11:34 besside the cooling outlets.

[@NurdRage]

after the condenser the acid is cold, and no longer corrosive to normal joint grease, the receiving flask has normal silicone grease on it. It's not a close system, gases escape through the vacuum outlet

[@heyihavenoclue7541]

@@NurdRage Perfect! thank you :)

[@samham3408]

Churp thanks... the deats r great.

[@therealjammit]

FYI they sell a PTFE plumbers thread sealant. It's the "liquid" form of PTFE tape.

[@RectifiedMetals]

Yup, I’m terrified of the stuff when it’s cold. Not going near a boiling batch. 😂

[@DaveChurchill]

Nurdrage Says: "Do this outside in a fume hood" Nurdrage Does: "Do this inside in a plywood box" :D

[@hanelyp1]

The wood is clearly expendable in the event of a serious chemical spill. Ventilation is apparently off camera.

[@jimmystikx]

Would ptfe pipe dope work, like the Blue Devil pipe dope?

[@JamesJohnson-kw9gh]

Havent seen your videos in awhile does this mean your back?

[@chemicallust77]

I'd like to see this used for electroplating

[@Spencergolde]

If the bin is there to catch spills, you could fill the bottom with some dry sodium bicarbonate. In the worst-case scenario it could save you a lot of hassle

[@stefangadshijew1682]

I think this is rather dangerous. The reaction might spill the hot acid everywhere. Better to wait till it cools down before you neutralize it. I also much prefer to dilute splashes of sulfuric acid with cold water (only if you mix it very fast, and only if the scale is low, of course), instead of neutralizing it when it is still concentrated.

[@jonnyv5428]

13:53 He says specifically NOT to do this. Think of a baking soda and vinegar volcano. He says wait for it to cool, check for possible damages, then use a mix of water and baking soda.

[@AndrewMerts]

One important thing to watch out for with the PTFE tape. Don't let it get above 250C or it'll start decomposing and releasing the notoriously toxic PTFE fumes. If it's in a fume hood you'd probably be fine but I don't think I'd want to be handling the tape afterwards and any pet birds in the house if it's an amateur setting are particularly sensitive to it.

[@JHONCHARLESCH]

GOD JOB...

[@AxGxP]

What about distillation under vacuum? May by it will be not so dangerous, by lowering temperature. How about quality of it?

[@semsem-Cu]

Can we use a vacuum in the case with the short path condenser apparatus?

[@Teukka72]

Potential research topic for lab techniques: Are there patterns of wrapping the PTFE tape that are more likely to be air/vapor/gas tight than others?

[@Michael2137.]

I always heard people discourage others from using a water condenser at such high temperature differences. Isn't there a high risk of the condenser cracking after some time?

[@NurdRage]

i address that in my safety discussion

[@timecode37]

He addresses it in the video, but still, even if your glass is from a trusted supplier i'd just use the air cooling, there should be barely any drawback or loss of distillate considering how high boiling the sulfuric acid is

[@lagrangiankid378]

​@@timecode37 or better, use two different condensers in a series, the first with air cooling, the second with cold water. The first one condenses most of the acid and reduces the temperature gradient, the second one makes sure that none of the vapors escape (which is especially important for those without a fume hood, hopefully working on the outside). If someone doesn't have two condensers, he could put in between the adapter and the water condenser ~20 cm of any other glass tubing to similarly reduce the temperature difference with air cooling first. Borosilicate glass can withstand a thermal shock of 180°C, so if the water flows at 15°C, the glass before the condenser should be at less than 195°C to avoid cracking.

[@kazeswift7412]

good job

[@urgtuiop5455]

Would it be practical to deliberately add water continuously to the drain cleaner whilst distilling so as to remove a purified but dilute acid. Then boil off the water. Might it help keep overall time spent at high temperatures down.

[@TheEsseboy]

Adding water to boiling acid is not a safe idea, it will make it flash boil and give you dangerous trouble.