osmium waste

2/14/97

What are some of the ways you can get rid of waste osmium? We

already add it to excess corn oil but our safety people say it's still toxic. I

thought I read once a technique that neutralizes it allowing it to be

flushed down the sink or at the minimum placed in with regular disposal

products? Our radiation people would like to see a similar thing with my

uranyl acetate. Thanks for any advice.

Ricky L Vaughn

RLVAUGHN@MAIL.UNMC.EDU

Ricky;

I have a reference that may help you. Apparently, a 2% solution of OS4 can

be neutralized by the very technique that you are using (i.e. corn oil).

You should use twice as much corn oil as OS4. The reference is:

Cooper, K. Neutralization of OS4 in case of accidental spillage and for

disposal. Bulletin of the Microscopical Society of Canada. 1988. 8:24-28.

Bob Citron

Chiron Vision

555 W. Arrow Hwy

Claremont, CA 91711

USA

ph: (909)399-1311

email: Bob_Citron@cc.chiron.com

My understanding is that vegetable oil reduces the osmium teroxide to less

reactive oxides and elemental osmium. These tend to be far less harzardous

but are still toxic, as are many heavy metals. So although you reduce the

hazard, you do not eliminate it. I would assume that reduced osmium would

be in the same class with lead paint and photographic silver waste. I am

not really sure that there are any standards out there for disposal. AT

least my safety people couldn't find them. At one time they wanted to take

my blackened refrigerator, seal it in a box with vermiculite and transport

to some super toxic dump site in Georgia. I refused to let them do it until

they could show me the regulations on reduced osmium tetroxide and they

could find none. In the meantime I painted the inside of the frig.

Our safety people take our reduced osmium waste and do something

with it.

Our uranyl acetate and lead citrate are combined and precipitaed with

phosphate. The liquid is decanted adn sent down the drain. The solids are

then turned over to safety people. This, at least, reduces the volume of waste.

G.W. Erdos, Ph.D. Phone: 352-392-1295

Scientific Director,

ICBR Electron Microscopy Core Lab

218 Carr Hall Fax: 352-846-0251

University of Florida E-mail: gwe@biotech.ufl.edu

Gainesville, FL 32611