How long does naoh last

The ingestion of large amounts of sodium hydroxide may also result in shock. Endoscopy may be contraindicated in cases where the patient is unstable, has upper airway compromise, evidence of perforation, or ingestion took place more than 48 hours previously.

Because children do not ingest large amounts of corrosive materials, and because of the risk of perforation from NG intubation, lavage is discouraged in children unless performed under endoscopic guidance.

Toxic vomitus or gastric washings should be isolated e. There is no antidote for sodium hydroxide. Various treatments to decrease stricture formation have been proposed including administration of ascorbic acid and steroids , but are not recommended. The diagnosis of acute sodium hydroxide toxicity is primarily clinical, based on symptoms of corrosive injury. However, laboratory testing is useful for monitoring the patient and evaluating complications. Routine laboratory studies for all exposed patients include CBC, glucose, and electrolyte determinations.

Patients who have respiratory complaints may require chest radiography and pulse oximetry or ABG measurements. Patients with symptoms of severe burns or perforation may require renal function tests and blood typing.

Consider hospitalizing patients who have ingested sodium hydroxide or who have eye or serious skin burns or histories of significant inhalation exposure. Patients with signs of perforation may require emergency surgery. Those with significant dermal injury should be admitted to the burn unit and patients with significant ingestion may need admission to the intensive care unit. Injury may continue to progress in severity for up to 48 hours after exposure. Patients may develop upper airway obstruction, perforation, and shock.

Patients who have minimal skin exposure or patients who show no progressive symptoms 6 to 12 hours after a mild-to-moderate inhalation exposure may be discharged with instructions to seek medical care promptly if symptoms develop see the Sodium Hydroxide-Patient Information Sheet below. Obtain the name of the patient's primary care physician so that the hospital can send a copy of the ED visit to the patient's doctor. For patients who have ingested sodium hydroxide, esophagoscopy should be performed within 48 hours of ingestion to assess severity of injury; a flexible instrument should be used.

If perforation has not occurred, consider follow-up endoscopy or a barium swallow 10 days to 3 weeks after the initial burn to further assess the injury. Patients who have corneal, conjunctival, scleral, or lid lesions should be reexamined within 24 hours. If a work-related incident has occurred, you may be legally required to file a report; contact your state or local health department.

Other persons may still be at risk in the setting where this incident occurred. If the incident occurred in the workplace, discussing it with company personnel may prevent future incidents. If a public health risk exists, notify your state or local health department or other responsible public agency. This handout provides information and follow-up instructions for persons who have been exposed to sodium hydroxide.

Print this handout only. Sodium hydroxide is a white, solid material that picks up moisture from the air. If put in water, it produces a large amount of heat. Both the solid and its solutions are very corrosive and can cause severe burns. Sodium hydroxide is a member of a group of chemical compounds also known as bases or alkalies, which can neutralize and are neutralized by, acids, releasing a lot of heat. Solid sodium hydroxide or strong solutions produce immediate pain when they come in contact with any part of the body.

Weak solutions may not produce pain for several hours, but serious burns can result even from weak solutions if they are not washed off quickly. Spilling sodium hydroxide over large areas of the skin or swallowing sodium hydroxide may cause shock and even death.

Sodium hydroxide can break down proteins and generates heat when dissolving in water. Contact with sensitive tissues, such as the eyes, is particularly dangerous and can cause permanent damage or even blindness. There is no antidote for sodium hydroxide, but the burns and shock it can cause can be treated. Patients who develop serious symptoms need to be hospitalized. A single small exposure from which a person recovers quickly is not likely to cause delayed or long-term effects.

After a serious exposure to large areas of the skin, scarring may occur that will require skin grafts. A serious eye exposure can result in blindness. If sodium hydroxide mist was breathed, permanent injury to the lungs may result. If a solution was swallowed, damage to the mouth, throat, and esophagus may cause permanent scarring, making swallowing difficult. Specific tests for the presence of sodium hydroxide in blood or urine are not available.

If a severe exposure has occurred, blood and urine analyses and other tests may show whether the lungs, eyes, or stomach has been injured. Testing is not needed in every case. More information about sodium hydroxide can be obtained from your regional poison control center; your state, county, or local health department; the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry ATSDR ; your doctor; or a clinic in your area that specializes in occupational and environmental health.

Ask the person who gave you this form for help in locating these telephone numbers. Keep this page and take it with you to your next appointment.

Follow only the instructions checked below. Print instructions only. If you have questions or concerns, please contact your community or state health or environmental quality department or:. ATSDR can also tell you the location of occupational and environmental health clinics. These clinics specialize in recognizing, evaluating, and treating illnesses resulting from exposure to hazardous substances. Skip directly to site content.

Toxic Substances Portal. Have victim rinse mouth with water again. First Aid Comments: All first aid procedures should be periodically reviewed by a doctor familiar with the chemical and its conditions of use in the workplace.

Suitable Extinguishing Media: Not combustible. Use extinguishing agent suitable for surrounding fire. Specific Hazards Arising from the Chemical: Contact with water causes violent frothing and spattering. Reacts with metals to produce highly flammable hydrogen gas. Closed containers may rupture violently when heated releasing contents.

Toxic sodium oxide fumes can be generated at high temperatures. Personal Precautions: Evacuate the area immediately. Isolate the hazard area.

Keep out unnecessary and unprotected personnel. Use personal protective equipment as required. Remove or isolate incompatible materials as well as other hazardous materials.

Methods for Containment and Clean-up : Contain and soak up spill with absorbent that does not react with spilled product. Shovel or sweep dry sodium hydroxide for recycling or disposal. Flush spill area. Dike spilled product to prevent runoff. Handling: Before handling, it is important that all engineering controls are operating and that protective equipment requirements and personal hygiene measures are being followed.

Only trained personnel should work with this product. Immediately report leaks, spills or failures of the safety equipment e. Avoid generating vapours or mists. Avoid generating dusts. Use corrosion-resistant tools and equipment. Never add water to a corrosive. Always add corrosives slowly to COLD water. Never reuse empty containers, even if they appear to be clean. Keep containers tightly closed when not in use or empty. Storage: Store in an area that is: cool, dry, well-ventilated, separate from incompatible materials.

Until a few years ago, I didn't realize my lye might be considered too old. I had stored it in heavy duty plastic bags in a bin in my rather damp basement. Because I still have success with making my soap, I've left it there but have more recently been using a dehumidifier to keep the basement a little drier in the summer. Occasionally, I'll come across some chunks, which I just throw out. SoapAddict Well-Known Member.

I once got lye from a supplier on Amazon that I suspected was a return because the safety seal had been punctured. It was easier to keep it than return it. I've never had batches ash that badly before or since. With this batch, some of the bars were completely covered when I unmolded them.

Last edited: Jul 8, Escott Active Member. Joined Jun 30, Messages 26 Reaction score I'm so glad you asked! Someone gifed me, the hobby soap maker, 50 lbs of lye I wasn't sure if it would keep!

I must've forgot to add the pic. I have never heard of lye causing ash. Granted, if I had an empty container like the one it's in, so I could weigh the container and thus subtract that weight, and add the amounts used in failed and now test batches, and assume that the number I'm looking at could be off by as much as ounces Even with that idea, however, that wouldn't tell me how to compensate for the weight when measuring out amounts for recipes. I think basically, I'm just hosed as far as this bunch of lye is concerned.

Yeah, as you've discovered NaOH solutions get less basic with time. It's almost impossible to use analyticallynormally if you need to titrate an acid, you make the solution alkaline by dumping in known mass of dry base and retitrate with a simple acid like HCl.

The problem is carbon dioxide. Any strong, unbuffered base is not stable in air. It's very difficult to dry NaOH, it's really hydroscopic. It forms a gel with water which can be hard to break down. You could try baking it in a really hot oven, but be sure to seal it from the atmosphere as it cools. Keep it tightly wrapped with dry silica gel if you need high purity. Who did you order from that made you get a large quantity?

Fisher Scientific or Sigma-Aldrich will both ship very small quantities g or so if that's all you need. Sodium hydroxide is really cheap. What's your application? With a bit more info, other solutions might be better. It's the same stuff they use to make oven cleaner. Response by poster: I'm using it to make soap As an example, a 2 test batch of soap generally requires about 96g of NaOH. That said, I'm going to check with both those suppliers and see what smallish large amounts they'll ship.

There's a chemical company over in fort worth that makes NaOH, but for some reason, they won't ship anything smaller than a pallet of it, they'll sell a 50 bag if you go get it, but I'm just not willing to break out my passport and make a 4 hour round trip, so I have to find another solution.