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+ Inorganic chemistry
+ Recycling
+ Toxicology
+ Cyanide
+ Waste management
+ Sodium
+ Chemistry
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Leon Baradat

How do you dispose of sodium cyanide?

Brian Dean  Follow

Convert it to another salt, one that is too stable to convert to a cyanide. Look up the synthesis of thiocyanates from cyanides. Also, ferrocyanides and ferricyanides are extremely stable. You can boil them in HCl and they won’t release any cyanic acid. That’s why they’re safe in chemistry sets (Or they once were. Don’t get me started.) I don’t know what iron salts to use to make the complex cyanide. Perhaps Fe(OH)2 or FeCO3. Do NOT use an acid.

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Claude Sundae  Follow

Sodium cyanide (NaCN) can be disposed of by converting it to sodium cyanate (NaCNO) with potassium permanganate (KMnO4). In the laboratory, we usually use this method to dispose of the leftover NaCN or KCN and the equipment used, including gloves, in KMnO4 solution. Here's the equation

KMnO4 + *NaCN + H2O = NaCNO + MnO2 + KOH

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