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Topic: Some novice questions about working with solvents/chemcials  (Read 7431 times)

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Offline Dsdave

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Some novice questions about working with solvents/chemcials
« on: April 02, 2012, 11:24:49 AM »
Hello everyone,

 ??? No much chemistry knowledge and experiences so I resort to ask here for guidance  about working with  the following chemicals.

-> are latex gloves safe enough to handle aceton?  how can I tell if they are nitrile gloves?

-> and can latex gloves handle cleaner/solvent  which consists of : Xylene; 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene; Mesitylene; Ethylbenzene; Toluene; Cumene

And how can you tell if  a  (pressurized) room/space is ventilated good enough to meet the maximal  exposure ppm (particles per million limits?)   Ventilation rate of the room/space ( L/s? )

love to work but do not want to die/sick   :P

Thanks

Offline fledarmus

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Re: Some novice questions about working with solvents/chemcials
« Reply #1 on: April 02, 2012, 12:27:03 PM »
In general, latex gloves are pretty useless for anything that isn't either a solid or an aqueous solution. If all you are working with is dilute solutions of acids and bases, or dry solids, they are okay. Most other solvents and liquids will go right through them, including the entire list of cleaner/solvents you asked about. Exam-type gloves of any composition (the really thin ones) really aren't meant for chemical exposure; they just give you time to get rid of the gloves if you accidentally spill something on your hands.

The best solution would be to look at the various glove selection guides provided by glove manufacturers. They will give you data on how fast a variety of solvents will go through gloves. That rate depends on both the composition and the thickness of the gloves.

Here is one example of a glove selection guide:

http://ehs.sc.edu/gloves.htm


Offline Dsdave

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Re: Some novice questions about working with solvents/chemcials
« Reply #2 on: April 02, 2012, 02:06:16 PM »
Thank you so much fledarmus,

and what about
->how can you tell if  a  (pressurized) room/space is ventilated good enough to meet the maximal  exposure ppm (particles per million limits?)   Ventilation rate of the room/space ( L/s? )


Offline fledarmus

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Re: Some novice questions about working with solvents/chemcials
« Reply #3 on: April 02, 2012, 03:52:18 PM »
You would have to talk to a lab designer for that, but the general terms used in lab ventilation measurement are the calculated number of times the entire volume of air in the room is replaced per unit time and the face velocity of air into the hoods.

Offline w4rlock

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Re: Some novice questions about working with solvents/chemcials
« Reply #4 on: April 03, 2012, 02:10:51 AM »
Ironically, I think the only thing latex gloves are half decent for is acetone. I use nitrile gloves for basically anything (sometimes double-gloving) except when I'm using acetone in large amounts in which case I use natural latex.

Offline discodermolide

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Re: Some novice questions about working with solvents/chemcials
« Reply #5 on: April 03, 2012, 03:00:40 AM »
Hello everyone,

 ??? No much chemistry knowledge and experiences so I resort to ask here for guidance  about working with  the following chemicals.

-> are latex gloves safe enough to handle aceton?  how can I tell if they are nitrile gloves?

-> and can latex gloves handle cleaner/solvent  which consists of : Xylene; 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene; Mesitylene; Ethylbenzene; Toluene; Cumene

And how can you tell if  a  (pressurized) room/space is ventilated good enough to meet the maximal  exposure ppm (particles per million limits?)   Ventilation rate of the room/space ( L/s? )

love to work but do not want to die/sick   :P

Thanks



Many people suffer from a latex allergy. They were banned in my company. So be careful.
Development Chemists do it on Scale, Research Chemists just do it!
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Offline Honclbrif

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Re: Some novice questions about working with solvents/chemcials
« Reply #6 on: April 03, 2012, 08:08:32 PM »
Many people suffer from a latex allergy. They were banned in my company. So be careful.

This. One latex glove snapped onto a hand is enough to send someone with an allergy into anaphylaxis. Think of it as sneezing a mouthfull of peanut butter at someone with a peanut allergy.
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Offline Dsdave

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Re: Some novice questions about working with solvents/chemcials
« Reply #7 on: April 04, 2012, 03:38:41 PM »
Oh thank you all so much,  more questions:

Anyone has tips about or where to find safety guides about  how to decant chemicals like  Acetone/industrial solvents   from  one canister to another canister?  ( metallatic canisters of sizes around/smaller than  half of a bucket)
Regularly I  see other workers  makes an ample spill when they try to pull over chemicals liquids and it doesnt smell every good. I am newb  but I dont think I should decant like them...
« Last Edit: April 04, 2012, 04:15:14 PM by Dsdave »

Offline discodermolide

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Re: Some novice questions about working with solvents/chemcials
« Reply #8 on: April 05, 2012, 01:24:18 AM »
Oh thank you all so much,  more questions:

Anyone has tips about or where to find safety guides about  how to decant chemicals like  Acetone/industrial solvents   from  one canister to another canister?  ( metallatic canisters of sizes around/smaller than  half of a bucket)
Regularly I  see other workers  makes an ample spill when they try to pull over chemicals liquids and it doesnt smell every good. I am newb  but I dont think I should decant like them...


Use a large funnel!
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