Extracting mercury from contaminated water
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- Over the years, I have collected a whole bunch of water based mercury waste. In this video, I will be recovering the mercury and disposing of the water.
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Nile talks about lab safety: • Chemistry is dangerous.
Waste disposal and management is an often forgotten and obscured part. People love to see reactions and might think to do these things themselves, without thinking about the disposal process. This video is invaluable, since it shows it's not all fun and games.
I agree!
Yes, good reason not to experiment with mercury, lead, etc.
Waste disposal is easy.
1) Political donation
2) Dump it anywhere
That's why i really rather watch it than to do the experiment
What scares me is imagine all the people who DONT see this and just flush waste down the drain. Its a shame people can be so ignorant.
Am I the only one who barely understands these videos but find them very interesting?
I understand a lot of the basic chemistry, and the rudimentary molecular physics behind it, but my memory is so far gone that I can't retain the formulas or even the chemicals for more than a minute or two. The ideas, yes, but not any specifics. The organic chemistry just completely loses me after two or three reactions. Still immensely interesting though.
Chamous x Yes
They are interesting. You don't have to dumb things way down in order to make it interesting for a layperson. You can still get the gist of it.
Chamous x I'm not an english speaker
I'm very good at chemistry in my language but in english I barely understand (I'm Romanian Na2S in romanian is Sulfat de Sodiu not Sodium Sulfite)
You'll learn something,so thats quite good
This is amazing - finally a channel that has modern, accessible, sciency high-quality videos on waste treatment. Great idea for a series, my chem department is going to love this!
Glad you liked it!
"my chem department is going to love this!"
no, they aren't. the things Nile does are slipshod and VERY sloppy.
no chem professor in their right mind would use these videos of anything except as examples of how NOT to do these things.
"Good enough" is not what a good professor teaches.
@@thomasneal9291 like... could you elaborate? Rather than just claim that hes sloppy and a bad chemist.
Personally, he reminds me of my microbio teacher, and my ap chem teacher, making lab work fun and interesting and easy to get a better understanding than a textbook
@@thomasneal9291 Its been a year. Wake up and tell us why Nigel is bad. Come on teach.
I usually just add a wad of bare copper wire to my waste mercury jug and get pure mercury metal in one step, But I have always wanted to see this method. Any chance you can convert it to the red mercury sulfide? I haven't figured out how to do it yet.
I always wondered how you clean up your waste cody :D
It's funny that I honestly never thought of just adding a metal to reduce it. That is probably the better way, ha. I imagine is takes a long time though.
I think to convert it you need high temp and pressure or something. In the end, the chemistry of the two kinds are pretty similar. Why do you want the red sulfide? As a dye or colorant?
I'll be trying to do this pretty soon, actually. I'm after a full set of historical paint pigments and so I'm intentionally making mercuric sulfide for it. There are vague references to the black sulfide being heated to temperatures in excess of 300 degrees celsius to convert its crystal structure to that of vermillion, and even to sublimation occurring at those temperatures. This could be useful for separating the mercuric sulfide from your celite, NileRed. I'll let you all know of my findings when I get around to it.
I think it would be pretty interesting to see a liquid metal being cemented out onto a piece of solid metal. Especially copper with its deep, cold-coloured ions.
Would the Hg bead up and only fall when it gets big enough? Or would it appear absolutely everywhere in the form of microscopic drops like condensation?
Amos Z Historical paints? I just did a video on Prussian Blue, and I really wanna make Mauverine, but that is just too expensive!
That 5000ml beaker is an absolute unit
Just say 5 liter?
@@dawsondaniels3589 ,mm mm no
@@wolfboi7104 r/notopbutok
@@kaldenelphick7079 r/sfu
What an absolute unit!!!
I think if I ever had to do this much work to clean up back in grad school I would have just quit. Kudos to you for doing the responsible thing and cleaning this up properly. Such a mess....
haha yeah. I miss the luxury of just putting it in a container and forgetting about it.
The way the filter paper floated to the bottom of your makeshift filter was rather gratifying.
Just noticed you have "NileRed" printed on some of your beakers.
Pretty legit.
Waste recycling videos are really useful for lab techs such as myself. I know my college lab would love to see them continue!
Sounds good!
I'm not a lab tech or anything but more extraction videos is more better for me too!!! i would love to see them continue myself x3\
{{REASON REDACTED}}
Pollution control is very important!
Your college doesn't have a protocol for disposing of waste?? That's bad. Real bad.
College labs (or ANY commercial lab) will require waste to be sent out. Trying to treat your own waste is irresponsible. As we all know reactions and experiments don't always go properly or to completion.
First chemistry lab at university was like this per experiment: 5-10min getting the stuff you need, 10-15min the actual experiment, 30min-2h waste management.
17:47 a very very fatal lemonade
Forbidden lemonade
well he poured it down the drain so it probably isn't that lethal
@@thefableparable215 You're not swallowing what your pouring in the drain... It had bleach...
Great video, as always. I have suggestion for future synthesis - the Crystal violet dye, also known as gentian violet. It can be used for staining biological samples (like Eosin), it has some antibacterial effects and it can be used as pH indicator. In strongly acidic solutions, the color of the dye changes from violet to green and to yellow. In basic solutions, it decomposes and becomes colorless.
Very practical use of chemistry and educational from several standpoints. Thanks for your posting. After thought: If you sandwich the diatomaceous earth between two sheets of "fast" filter paper it is easier to deal with.
that is a very good point. I didnt even think of that
lmfao I wrote the exact same comment
When filtering with DE (Diatomaceous Earth) you can continue to add small amounts of DE while you are filtering to keep the filter surface from being blinded. This keeps the filter process from slowing down.
Assuming this is a process used on a scale this size it makes one question what to do with an entire great lake. At least in western Lake Ontario they're dredging the PAH. The volume is astounding. Your informative video shows it's perhaps best to deal with such issues while they're still within more manageable volumes. Thanks, as always, for providing such informative videos.
I love your videos so much, because I rarely can make experiments so I can watch them only lol. Also, your voice is cool!
haha, thanks!
Yes, the same goes for me. And did you notice that this really is the first Comment on that Video, the one you've posted?
Florian Daßler Yes 😂 This is the first time that I'm early.
iskrem er pa veggene XD lol du også ser han her? Sykt bra, porno
Olav Amh Jeg bor i Serbien lol, men jeg liker norsk og norge så jeg lære norsk. Nilered er beste!
NileRed: Complicated filtration cycles.
Me: FUNNY COLOURS!!! YAAAY!!! Do more funny colours! :D
tbh I find the waste disposal process the most interesting stuff. I've always wondered about what happens to chemical waste and always got oblique answers when I asked. Showing the waste processing feels behind-the-scenes
I will admit. I don't know much about chemistry. But I can't seem to stop watching these videos. Very educating and interesting. Learning alot. And loving it. Keep them coming please.
I used to take all my chemical waste to an inexpensive place called, "Love Canal Waste Management, a division of Hooker Chemical Company". They took anything and only charged $1.99 per ton. I wish they were still in business.
💀💀💀💀💀💀
I really enjoyed this video. It gives another angle to chemistry that not many UA-cam's take advantage of. Great work!
It appears that you did a good, thorough job, and I am glad to see that you have the responsibility to (attempt to) properly recycle the chemical waste. Thank you.
Great to see such a responsible video. The only thing I would make sure in the future is, never use water bottles for any chemical storage - but if you do make sure is it clearly labelled with hi-viz labels so if someone else is coming along behind you they know exactly whats in the bottles. keep up the great videos.
Dirty Mercury??
Dang. Well, now that I got the name, I better go recruit some bandmates!
What kind of band? Heavy metal?
@@BugsydorPrime Of course, but especially death metal.
awesome video man always super informative. your actually inspiring me to take chemistry any tips on pursuing chemistry as a career ?
Make sure to take sciences in high school and then choose to do chemistry in university. While you are doing your undergrad, youill have to decide whether you want to work in academics or industry.
+NileRed yeh I'm actually talking to an administrator at a college close to where I live so I'm gonna take an intro test next week
Good luck man! Keep the STEM alive!!
So are you in chemistry now? Hows it going?
op please update i need to know how your science journey is going
Neat video. I'd like to see lead waste recycling, mainly Lead (II,IV) Oxide (red lead). Should be able to react it back into metallic lead with a hot enough furnace and a reducing agent.
so many people doing chemistry on youtube clearly have no idea what to do with waste so it's great to see this. these might be your most important videos
6:51 looks awesome :D
The whole process looks messy and tedious, but very interesting. One question remained though: How do the specialised facilities process the contaminated solid waste?
If it safe to burn just lit the things up. As far as I know all biocontaminated scalpels go back to liquid steel.
@@vjaceslavsavsjaniks6431 You can't burn an element though, no matter what compounds you make you'll always have Mercury atoms.
They ship to SEA country dump it here. That's how waste management in the west works
@@ThoolooExpress some mercury compounds are safe.
@@Kyle-gw6qp Yeah, I'm aware of that, I was just explaining why you can't burn it and expect whatever's left to be safe (and also not potentially create toxic fumes).
Its really nice of you, that you handle contaminated stuff with such care, instead of just washing them down the sink. I am interested in more contamination related videos in the future :)
Excellent video. Kudos for demonstrating responsibility.
Excellent series. Waste disposal was a big concern for me in the past. Not doing any chemistry now. Found your channel to be very enjoyable to watch.
Couldn't you add another filter paper on top of the sand, to prevent any of the sand from getting displaced?
Alot of mercury sulfide would still go through it and into the sand tho. But it could increase the yield of non-mixed sulfide.
Yeah that's what I was thinking. We essentially did that with our protein purification chromatography columns to stop the separation media getting churned up. Works well, would recommend :)
me and 5 other people said this and he said he didn't even think of it
community innovation
I think this is a wonderful idea - I mean making a series of waste recycling. It is very important to see what happens after your reactions. And you made it very interesting as well! You should do this more often!
Love this series already. Waste processing has always been something that interested me
i suggested videos like this a little while ago, so happy you are doing it. it show's an interesting side to chemistry that doesn't get covered much
I love waste management. It is an interesting part of lab work. You have to be creative and adaptive because every batch of waste is unique.
NileRed, I love your videos. They are so well put together and nice to watch. In fact, I'm watching this a second time!
Thanks! I am glad you liked it :)
Very interesting. :) Could you do a video on dealing with halogeneted wastes? Those containing Chlorine and Bromine and stuff like that? (:
Wow currently I’m taking an Analytical Chemistry course and I was learning about complexes and qualitative inorganic analysis and watching this video I can understand some of the things you are saying
after seeing this I'm very curious how they deal with this stuff after you've given it to the disposal people
They neutralize and react the waste into unharmful chemicels. Then dump it
dump it where
@@margiethenunblessyoursoul9946 somewhere
@@matan7899 Okay um what's an "unharmful" mercury-containing chemical then?
Neolexious Neolexian precisely
This is the first time i find chemistry to be so interesting, i´m a civil engineer, took 2 chemistry classes, witch were mandatory some 15 years ago, i really suffer those, this on the contrary, i find really amazing and entertaining. Great job. ( i dont understand much, but i find your videos really appealing and well edited, and interesting)
You need to build yourself a proper fume hood because those bubbles bursting
are emitting mercury vapors.Include a carbon filter to catch noxious gases.
meagain2222 he's wprking in a fumehood. Otherwise, he would no longer have lungs
the rougemillenial
What is the name of this disorder?
@the rougemillenial Oh, completeBullshit-itis?
@the rougemillenial that sounds cool, minus the mobility inconvenience of course
I'd long been curious about how you dealt with all of the chemical waste that your experiments generated.
I have a new respect for the people who process toxic waste -- although it almost seems as if you generate as much new waste (e.g., paper towels) as you recover.
Thank you for posting this video. If I ever use mercury salts, I'll be sure to study it.
Just treat it with sulfuric acid to about 2 pH, add some iron, raise the pH to 7 using Sodium Hydroxide, then add Sodium Hydrosulfide flakes at about 1-2.5% bv. Raise the pH to the desired precipitation pH for Mercury. Vacuum filter through a diatomaceous earth cake, preferably a cake which was deposited over a small rotary vacuum drum. The water may be discharged, and the cake may be disposed of as hazardous waste.
Mmmmm... cake :-q
The cake is a lie
Thanks, NileRed! I was uncertain on the function of a buffer solution when it was described to me in high school, but I feel like I now understand it better- thanks to this video!
Waste disposal is just another part of the deal and by no means glorious but very important. I really enjoyed this video, just like the other ones you put up
I like to listen to this at 2 am and it really helps me sleep, your voice is very calming.
I really think you need to seriously consider doing an ICP analysis on your waste material to prove that it's safe to discharge as wastewater.
Yeah, definitely could use a double-check.
Just drink it, if your fine it's safe to pour down the drain.
I appreciate your care in disposing your chemicals. Respect.
Will you be my valentine tomorrow nile
Yes
@@NileRed so you answer
@@AbrarKhan-kb9nn
Only to Arivinda. That's his valentine, after all.
@@NileRed Killer Queen has already touched your set up, 1st bomb!
marian taic sandu why th is this comment still active?😂
Good stuff. You can tell he's learned and improved over the years just look at how he used to stick the litmus paper into his creation rather than drop a sample on it externally.
Hello. I would like to know if the plastic and other containers in contact with the waste Mercury remain contaminated. If so, how is it dealt with?
I’m a Chemistry major and I just love seeing all the cool things you can do with the processes we learn about, damn chemistry is interesting
I'm a simple human being.
I see "Mercury", I click
For me as a chemical laboratory technician, this is very interesting. Thank you!
"My PH Paper is pretty crappy", Proceeds to use it for the next 4 years.
The problem is I’ve learned more about chem from this channel than I ever did in my honors chem class 😭❤️
I suggest adding a second piece of filter paper above the celite to be an isolation layer for the product inside the buchner funnel. This should facilitate the removal of the product while keeping most of the celite out of it.
I usually just pour my mercury waste in a duck pond at the park. Funny though, all the ducks died recently for some reason.
hmmmm, that's so strange
maybe pouring in more will help?
Yeah I agree, they’re probably just hungry. Poor ducks not being fed enough mercury smh
8:00 "You can't use too much sodium sulfide"
This reminds me of a sketch on SNL years ago where there's some new workers at a nuclear power plant . The manager comes through and tells them, "You can't add too much water to the reactor, understand?"
The workers all say they understand, but as soon as the manager leaves some of them say they thought he meant, "don't add too much water" and others say they thought he meant, "there's no amount that is too much."
why don't you put a second filter paper over the celite to avoid getting it in your finally product
I like your Videos. They seem simple, to the point, and a step by step process of what you are doing. I wouldn't mind if your voice sounded a tad more interesting, however I am glad it also isn't over the top for something like this.
It is also nice that you point out what you are doing correctly, incorrectly, and even point out your half-assed attempts. That type of honesty is what is needed when dealing with !!SCIENCE!!
Thank you for the intriguing and informative videos.
do a qualitative anorganic analysis series in which you showcase the tests for different ions
I think what ill end up doing is several small videos and then compile that into one mega one
you could also try to detect ions in waste, soil or sth like that to see/prove whats in there :)
Very interesting and useful, love to see more like it... we should do what we can to protect the enviroment.
"Over the years I have collected a decent amount of waste" ... your entry for the worst pickup line in 2017? ^^
Great to see such a responsible video. The only thing I would make sure in the future is never use water bottles for any chemical storage - but if you do make sure is it clearly labelled with hi viz labels so if someone else if coming along behind you they know exactly whats in the bottles. keep up the great videos.
You should definitely continue this series
Great idea for a series. Really informative and interesting!
"It gets too basic" soon Starbucks will be everywhere
That is a great idea for a series, actually! Lacking knowledge on how to deal with chemical waste is one of the main things that prevents me from performing more extensive experiments..
Also, I do assume lead is processed in a very similar way?
So every time you had to clean something out with water, did you effectively create more mercury waste?
Everytime he cleaned something with mercury in it. Yes.
@@dutchik5107 I never thought about how important and difficult it is to re-purpose chemical waste.
another thing about that black water that was cause by the use of tap wter as a solvent:
the finer the particles of metals become, the blacker they get ... the same thing happens with salts (exceptions do apply of course). This also means that if you clean a metal surface with say abrasive milk and you notice black particles on your wipe, they aren't necessarily impurities/dirt, but just metal particles of the surcae that look now black.
The quantitative precipitation of mercury sulfide works at a pH = 0 - 1 as well. No need to put in large quantities of NaHCO3. During the ion separation procedure in analytics you will bubble in H2S-gas into the acidic solution with a pH of about 0-1. HgS 's solubility product is VERY low and it will already be a quantitative precipitation.
SP(HgS) = 10^-54 mol^2/L^2 --> c[Hg2+] = 10^-27 mol/L Hg in a saturated solution of HgS! That's about homeopathic!😉
After desulfurization by boiling the acidic solution and subsequent neutralization the water solution can be safely dumped into the sewer IF no other heavy metals are present.
If you put another filter paper on top of the celite it stops the celite jumping around when you pour on top of it and mixing when you scoop it out.
Thank you for your videos.
The recycling videos are great because it is modelling good behavior.
As far as ideas for videos, I know you've done a lot of scents, can you do Geosmin? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geosmin
Or maybe extract what makes wasabi (or horseradish) so spicy?
I still want to see aspirin from bark too.
what isn't good behaviour though is how he stores his waste
100% wholly unprofessional.
+Justin Koenig
So what is the problem?
+Mad araH
Except that synthesis of aspirin and heroin has pretty much nothing in common.
Justin Koenig You're right. They should be in approved waste containers, or at the very least say something other than just "Hg" Most people don't know what Hg means. Also, leading people to believe that they can treat their own waste is more irresponsible. Don't try treating your own waste people!
user255 - not labeling the waste containers properly
-using food containers as waste containers
-who knows where this is stored? i assume it doesn't fullfill any standards set by the industry, though, seeing what he did here
Mercury is ESPECIALLY difficult waste to work with. breaking several regulations doesn't help.
Excellent idea to make a video on chemical waste management. Truly amazing. Looking forward to many such videos.
I usually just pour my mercury waste directly into baby bottles for mass distribution
I think the white sediment after Ca(OCl)2 treatment is gypsum, or any form of calcium sulphate.
Cause it has low solubility in water, and also it's white.
Ca2+ is being added to the mixture, while SO4(2-) forms during the reaction; then they just meet and fall down.
Could you tell me more about your glassware? What makes it cheaper than others? Some short research shows the 500ml beakers are roughly 11 usd. Yours are 6 in comparison, are there compromises in quality? Looking into getting some glassware but I wanna make sure about things.
Where are you searching that it is 11 USD? I just priced mine similar to the price that I could get it from china, or locally. There should be no real difference. Some glassware is "thick-walled" which comes at a premium price.
Just from Amazon, however I just did another search and found another on Amazon with a similar price point. So maybe the first one I found was thicker. It didn't mention anything about thickness though.
hey just be grateful that he doesnt overprize them just because theres 'nileRed' written on them :D
Oh I am, I was just curious of how the pricing was decided is all lol.
To prevent the Celite from being washed aside at the start of the filtration, could you put a thin sheet of water ice on top of the Celite to pour onto? Just a daft idea.
I like your new profile picture mate! 👍
Thanks!
Very useful and informative! I hope you will keep going
me: sees chlorine tablets
my brain: eat it
Excellent video! I have been watching NurdRage, Cody'sLab and yourself for ages now. Decided last year to start studying Chemistry and couldn't be happier. Also, I find disposing of mercury and lead contaminants is super easy if you have a protected wetlands or estuary nearby. /sarcasm
I'm more of an electronics guy than a chemist, but I find the preferred method of lead disposal is to just burn scrap and recover the gold. The leftovers make great fertilizer for the neighbor's garden ;)
"Bottoms up!"
I have to say that I really like the cleanup/disposal videos. When I was taking college chem courses I always wondered what would happen to the contents of the chemical waste bins. Perhaps you could explain what happens to waste halogenated organics. I assume they are combusted in a special furnace, but if I am wrong and there is a chemical treatment then that might be interesting to show.
I was thinking it might be interesting to go to a waste facility and do a video about how it is all dealt with.
NileRed that would be awesome!
0:11 no wrong ... there is no such thing as "waste" when it comes to chemistry .. there are only "chemicals for which a use has yet to be found " :P
Yummy drink
Also known as poison
Nile, maybe it is an option to use a courser filter on top of the celite to make a little separation between the two, if you have to change the filter you can just remove the primary course filter paper and its content. after that you would have access to the celite and filterpaper and you wouldnt mix celite into the mercury sulfate. i might be totally wrong since im not a chemist at all. so my apologies if there's an obvious reason as to why it wouldnt be possible.
Seems questionable using "celite" for filtration, when you have no way of separating the filter medium from the precipitate!
This is the first video I've seen on waste recycling, it would be useful to see one on even more mundane things that have steps.
I should never be a chemist. I'm not nearly organized enough to keep everything labeled. Probably end up accidentally drinking a bottle of mercury.
So thorough. N yr explaining, is so good. Tyvm
"If things get more basic..." weil, I guess it would start a blog in tumblr
You could try adding a celite and water mixture little by little to help with the build up of sulfide on the celite, in the industry we call it body feed
Why's your workspace so cold? This seems like it might be bad for some chemicals or do they get more stable at those temperatures?
Henry Schmale
you need low temperatures to make lsd.
Laharl Krichevskoy he opened the back door for air (cold weather)
he is Canadian, thats their normal temparature ;D
and usually cold isnt as bad as heat for chemicals, but you might watch out for some solutions that could freeze or participate out
I'm kinda amused how you seem more concerned about NileRed's chemicals than NileRed himself working in freezing temperatures!
You could use an aeropress coffee maker to filter it more easily. It is also easier to clean as you can unscrew the bottom.
r/outofcontext *”over the years i’ve collected a lot of waste”*
very impressed you didn't throw it down the drain well-done
Just dump it in your neighbour's bushes bro.
meme haha
neighbor:HAVE YOU BEEN DUMPING YOUR SEWAGE INTO MY BUSHES?
me:no *whispers* its toxic waste
Hope they dont find out
No the poor garden
Just dump it in your neighbours water supply bro
I suggest during the mercury sulfide filtration step, you put another filter paper ontop of the selite