10-22-97
I've seen many notices that waste 2% osmium tetroxide can be
reduced to less hazardous form by mixing with twice volume of
corn oil. I'd like to implement this practice, but I also use a
lot of 0.5% ruthenium tetroxide. Can this also be reduced with
oil? The only thing I've heard of for RuO4 is sodium bisulfite,
which is quite toxic/harmful itself. It would be great to find a
single practice that works for both Os and Ru.
Also, does anyone know if buffer solutions (cacodylate or
phosphate) interfere with OsO4 reduction by corn oil?
Thanks for your help,
Karen
--
Karen Zaruba
kszaruba@mmm.com
3M Company, 3M Center Bldg. 270-1S-01
St. Paul, MN 55144
Index gives its LD50 (in rats) as 115 mg/Kg, and says that it is used
as a preservative and bleach in food.
best regards
mark
Mark W. Lund, PhD
Director >> Soft X-ray Web page http://www.moxtek.com<<
MOXTEK, Inc.
452 West 1260 North
Orem UT 84057 801-225-0930 FAX 801-221-1121
lundm@xray.byu.edu
charges of reprocessing hazardous waste, for which the University doesn't
have a license. They insist I give them the Osmium as is for disposal.
sbarlow@sunstroke.sdsu.edu
Thank you to those who responded so far to my question on reduction
of OsO4 and RuO4 to less hazardous states using corn oil.
So far no one has responded with experience with RuO4 and corn oil - any
others lurking out there want to add 2 cents? I did get a very
detailed reply from Wolfgang Muss on using ethanol to inactivate OsO4.
Also I have never heard of the "reprocessing hazardous waste" issue
that Steven Barlow brought up. Sounds like a wonderfully
forward-thinking, environmentally responsible policy to me. [Must have
been designed by the same folks that allow liability issues re:children
to make it too costly for our neighborhood to have a park.] Does this
reprocessing issue apply outside San Diego?
Answers to two questions:
The corn oil procedure for OsO4 appears in a "Technical Data Sheet"
from Electron Microscopy Sciences, with the following references given:
(I haven't read them, just the data sheet)
Cooper, K. Neutralization of Osmium Tetroxide in case of accidental
spillage and for disposal. Bulletin of The Microscopical Society of
Canada. 1988. 8:24-28. (Also I think I saw similar article in
Don Grimes' free publication, Microscopy Today).
Lunn, G.;Sansone, E.B. Osmium Tetroxide. Destruction of Hazardous
Chemicals in the Laboratory; Program Resources, Inc. Frederick, MD;
p211-213.
The other question was about the hazards of Sodium Bisulfite. I am
just going by an MSDS I have for CAS # 7631-90-5 from Sigma-Aldrich.
This states that sodium bisulfite is Toxic, Harmful by Inhalation and
Contact, causes Severe Irritation, and is a Possible Sensitizer. Taking
into account the fact that even bread pudding would probably show up
as harmful by inhalation on an MSDS, still the designations of Toxic,
Sensitizer and "Severe" Irritant are worth noting.
Still appreciate any further comments!
Karen
--
Karen Zaruba
kszaruba@mmm.com
3M Company, 3M Center Bldg. 270-1S-01
St. Paul, MN 55144
Ruthenium red is used to stain the lipid components of membranes, an un-
saturated oil should combine with Ru in much the same way as with Os.
William Tivol
tivol@wadsworth.org
for over ten years now I (use my OsO4-solutions) and dispose of my used up working
solutions in a way which is very safe, but uncommon. I ve had posters on that at
MSA-Meeting Boston 1992 (also included in the Proceedings, 50th Ann. Meeting, p.
754/755: MUSS W.H.: "Pro s for a multiple/repeated use and safe disposal with
recovery of OsO4 solution(s) in routine EM")
For about 1300-1600 specimen blocks to osmicate I need only 4-6 g OsO4/year.
I don t use the cornoil-disposal method, because I think Os a valuable metal which
shouldn t be wasted off the drain/ down the sink ("with a plenty flush of water" !! as has
been proposed by several people, which in my opinion would not fit ecological
considerations!) but be recovered and recycled.
I learned my lession at the 1992 Boston Meeting as well as within the last 5 years: I tried
people to convince that it is possible to reduce the amount of OsO4 used for
staining/postfixation of specimens AND recover all of the Os from solutions as used
(like buffers, like mixtures etc.) as this is possible in Switzerland, where a regular Os
recovery and recycling has been established for all EM-Labs aided by the
SGOEEM=Swiss Society for EM since 1972!!
It is not easy to convince people about that though the process is very easy, simple,
effective in my experience and more or less costs are low. I am doing it. I have,
unfortunately, no experience in "deactivating" RuO4, but I think, considering my scanty
knowledge from chemistry lessions and 17 years experience in disposal/recovery of
OsO2/Os (+/- pure), this should be no problem at all.
If you want to get informed about the reasons, why and how I do it: please don t hesitate
to contact me by e-mail.
Best wishes for a lucky day
to you and all of the community
Wolfgang MUSS
EM-Lab, Dept. Pathology, LKA
A-5020 SALZBURG, Austria/Europe.
W.Muss@lkasbg.gv.at