frozen glacial acetic acid

[spoolman]

A 1 litre jug of this chemical was left in a cold area of my house and as a result has frozen. Is there anyway or method of thawing it out without causing the plastic bottle that it is in from splitting and creating a hazardous chemical spill ?.

Doug

 

[George Nova Scotia]

If I recall in turns solid a 60F. I had it happen decades ago. Set it in a tray big enough to hold the volume and let it warm up, should be okay. Unlike water it dosn't expand when it turns solid.

 

[AgX]

But it should expand when thawing. That is the reason for that question.
I assume as the thawing will start from the outside the fluid can run into the air space and no pressure will be on the bottle.

 

[darkroommike]

Bring it slowly up to room temp, maybe in a plastic pail! You could also put a plastic bag around the acid before putting it in the pail, add water same temp as the room the acid came from and then add just a little bit of warm water at a time. I've never had a glass or a plastic bottle break if you warm it up slowly.

 

[Doremus Scudder]

I don't see a problem here. The liquid acid was in the bottle before it "froze," so there shouldn't be a capacity problem once it thaws. The bottle should be just fine as the acid warms up to room temp. Sure, put it in a bucket if you're worried, but everything will be just fine.

Doremus

 

[railwayman3]

Way back, years ago, I sorted out some chemicals, belonging to a deceased photographer, which had been stored in an unheated outside shed for many years. They were mostly so old as to be useless, but I recall a bottle of glacial acetic acid where the contents had apparently expanded at some time and cracked the bottle (perhaps fortunately, it seemed to have then drained into the floor and ground and disappeared !). As it normally contracts on freezing and expands when thawing, I'm guessing that this bottle froze and thawed over several UK winters and this cracked it at some time.

 

[AgX]

I'm guessing that this bottle froze and thawed over several UK winters and this cracked it at some time.

Very puzzling.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

When the acid thaws it expands it is possible to crack the a glass container. That it freezes is responsible for the name 'glacial.'

 

[AgX]

I assume as the thawing will start from the outside the fluid can run into the air space and no pressure will be on the bottle.

When the acid thaws it expands it is possible to crack the a glass container.

Maybe if the thawing starts at the bottom, the resulting expandig liquid is cought there.

On thus should let it thaw at room temperature, or put the bottle upside down into a water bath, with its bottom still outside. Thus there would not be formed enclosed liquid.

 

[mshchem]

Is it still frozen? I've never had a problem, I have worked in analytical labs where we have received 2.5 L (back then it was sold in 5 US pint bottles) bottles frozen. We just let them thaw on the lab bench. Of course there was a chemist there that would smoke in the lab. He would stand next to a fume hood at the same time we distilled Acetonitrile. Maybe we just got lucky? ??
Best Mike

 

[spoolman]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I placed the jug of glacial acetic acid in a bucket and poured 1 L. of room temperature water into the bucket and waited until it cooled off. I repeated the process twice more and it thawed the acid out without ant problems.

Doug