[sdiy] Disposing of cupric chloride

[pata at ieee.org]

Hi List,

FYI;
CuCO3 is designated as a "deleterious substance" by applicable law in Japan.
CuCO3 is not so active in a normal situation (at room temperature, in tap water) but it is easy to become fume or mist of copper oxide when it is thrown into a fire (at least 220 degree Celcius).
It is harmful for your health.
The safest way to dispose of CuCO3 is to dispose of with the coffee filter in a wet condition.
Please note that you must consult with your local garbage regulation. I think most of local garbage collection service allows a small amount of mineral matters (such as sand, soil, or CuCO3) are mixed with your daily combustible garbage.

Taku
Muse Music Synthesizer Lab., Japan

--- On Tue, 2014/1/28, David G Dixon <dixon at mail.ubc.ca> wrote:

> > It is indeed light blue. David; i'm a little confused about 
> > you saying it's harmless as every other source i've found 
> > says it's indeed really bad for the environment, not saying 
> > you're wrong just saying that's what i've read on several 
> > different blogs and sites. So is the white slime at the 
> > bottom the copper salt or?
> 
> It is toxic to fish and algae.  However, you've probably got less than 10
> grams of total copper in your etchant solution.  Not exactly an
> environmental catastrophe.
> 
> Add a bunch of base to it, like sodium carbonate.  You will end up with
> copper carbonate and salt water:
> 
> CuCl2(aq) + Na2CO3(s) --> CuCO3(s) + 2 NaCl(aq)
> 
> The solid is copper carbonate.  Filter that on a coffee filter and throw it
> in the garbage, or put it in the oven to make copper oxide, or whatever,
> then throw it in the garbage.  It won't releach without acid, so it's pretty
> safe.  Dump the water.
> 
> Better yet: reuse the etchant.  That's the whole point of this etchant
> solution.
> 
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