Our Laboratory was recently affected by smoke damage after a fire. It is all covered in a thick layer of soot inside and out. Would it be advisible to replace the glassware or is there a way of making sure it is clean so as not to affect our results?
My setup was on fire last year. We carefully cleaned the lenses and mirrors and they work well.
It is not clear to me if you are speaking of traditional glassware (beakers, etc.) or optical components (lens, beamsplitter, etc.). Traditional glassware should be fine after cleaning. Optics may not be. They commonly have surface coatings and a very sensitive to scratches. Depending on the device, they may need to be replaced rather than cleaned.
Thank you for the advice. I am talking about traditional glassware. I have just found that washing with soap and water, bottle brushes etc. Then a phosphate free soap wash and an acid wash isn't removing all the residues. I guess a second and third round of washing will be required.
Richard, you might try an acid bath: potassium dichromate in diluted sulphuric acid. Cover the glassware and leave them there for a week-end. The down side is that you have to take care of the acid waste afterwards and it can be expensive to prepare large volumes. You may find a recipe readily available on the internet. Sorry to hear about your predicament.
If Rialet's solution doesn't work (it cleans almost all glassware) then try a bath of alcoholic KOH (I prefer isopropanol). I have had very good results using both acid/chromate as well as IPA/KOH in series.
Most smoke is a combination of hydrocarbons, distillates of polymeric material and carbon particles covered with greasy residue. Removing this can be done using a combination of solvents and mechanical means.
(1) Alcoholic KOH is quite aggressive, and it will attack skin and can blind people. CAUTION! Does etch glass. Do not store in glass or ceramic containers.
(2) Besides acetone or mek wash, chromerg (bad stuff!), and alc koh, some people find live steam removes recalcitrant residues. 55 years ago we had a a boiling pot set up which emitted steam through a glass tube, onto which we hung the vessel to be cleaned. Did very well, but is a burn hazard. We first did all the previously listed procedures and then did the steam clean final. Worked like a champ.
Hi Scott
Thank you for your reply. We eventually ended up replacing the glassware and used the old glassware for undergraduate practicals where crystal clean glassware is not so important. We could get rid of the black greasy buildup by soaking it in hot water and detergent but replaced the galssware as I wasnt sure if the residues would affect experiments.
regards
Richard
Consider to swab the glassware outside surfaces with petroleum jelly while cleaning inside surfaces with petroleum ether or ligroin.
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