xtol accident - spillage

m_liddell · Aug 5, 2007

I took a 1L glass bottle full of xtol into the kitchen to wipe the bottom of it and the bottom spontaneously cracked and fell off sending xtol sloshing all over my kitchen counter, hob and floor

Give that this is where food is prepared, how should I best clear this mess up?

dslater · Aug 5, 2007

Bummer - I'd try first wiping everything down with some vinegar mixed in water to neutralize the alkaline developer. Then I'd wash everything with standard household cleaners.

MikeM1977 · Aug 5, 2007

Xtol is mostly Vitamin C and water. Just wipe everything down several times and use a standard cleaning product. Nothing I would be worried about. The cleaning products are more nasty than Xtol.

Roger Hicks · Aug 5, 2007

MikeM1977 said:
Xtol is mostly Vitamin C and water. Just wipe everything down several times and use a standard cleaning product. Nothing I would be worried about. The cleaning products are more nasty than Xtol.

Not exactly. From Kodak MSDS:

2. COMPOSITION/INFORMATION ON INGREDIENTS
Weight % - Component - (CAS Registry No.) (ELINCS/EINECS No.) - Classification
Part A:
90-95 Sodium sulphite (007757-83-7) (231-821-4)
5-10 Sodium metaborate, tetrahydrate (010555-76-7)
1-5 Diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid pentasodium salt (000140-01-2)
(205-391-3) - Xi; R36/38*
< 1 4-hydroxymethyl-4-methyl-1-phenyl-3-pyrazolidinone (013047-13-7)
(235-920-3) - Xn; R48/22 N; R51/53*
Part B:
70-75 Sodium sulphite (007757-83-7) (231-821-4)
15-20 Sodium isoascorbate (006381-77-7) (228-973-9)
5-10 Sodium metabisulphite (007681-57-4) (231-673-0) - Xn; R22-31-37-41*
Working solution (Approximate dilution - 50 g A + 53.55 g B to make 1 litre):
85-95 Water (007732-18-5)
5-10 Sodium sulphite (007757-83-7)
1-5 Sodium isoascorbate (006381-77-7)
< 1 Sodium metaborate, tetrahydrate (010555-76-7)
< 1 Diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid pentasodium salt (000140-01-2)
< 0.05 4-hydroxymethyl-4-methyl-1-phenyl-3-pyrazolidinone (013047-13-7)
* Substance not listed in EC Annex

As you say, probably not as nasty as whatever cleaner you use, but equally, some way from 'vitamin C and water'.

dslater · Aug 5, 2007

Roger Hicks said:
Not exactly. From Kodak MSDS:

2. COMPOSITION/INFORMATION ON INGREDIENTS
Weight % - Component - (CAS Registry No.) (ELINCS/EINECS No.) - Classification
Part A:
90-95 Sodium sulphite (007757-83-7) (231-821-4)
5-10 Sodium metaborate, tetrahydrate (010555-76-7)
1-5 Diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid pentasodium salt (000140-01-2)
(205-391-3) - Xi; R36/38*
< 1 4-hydroxymethyl-4-methyl-1-phenyl-3-pyrazolidinone (013047-13-7)
(235-920-3) - Xn; R48/22 N; R51/53*
Part B:
70-75 Sodium sulphite (007757-83-7) (231-821-4)
15-20 Sodium isoascorbate (006381-77-7) (228-973-9)
5-10 Sodium metabisulphite (007681-57-4) (231-673-0) - Xn; R22-31-37-41*
Working solution (Approximate dilution - 50 g A + 53.55 g B to make 1 litre):
85-95 Water (007732-18-5)
5-10 Sodium sulphite (007757-83-7)
1-5 Sodium isoascorbate (006381-77-7)
< 1 Sodium metaborate, tetrahydrate (010555-76-7)
< 1 Diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid pentasodium salt (000140-01-2)
< 0.05 4-hydroxymethyl-4-methyl-1-phenyl-3-pyrazolidinone (013047-13-7)
* Substance not listed in EC Annex

As you say, probably not as nasty as whatever cleaner you use, but equally, some way from 'vitamin C and water'.

definitely not something I would want in or near my food. Fortunately for me I have a laundry sink in my basement I use for processing.

dpurdy · Aug 5, 2007

I once carefully set a full 1 gallon container down into my chest freezer to cool it fast after mixing. The freezer was full of food of course. When I took the developer out I slipped and dumped it into the freezer. That took half a day to clean up with my wife madder then heck at me the whole time. the smell of sodium sulfite on stuff is terrible. Unluckily most of the food was tightly packaged and salvageable. Which meant hours of cleaning the packages. the Freezer had to be emptied and totally cleaned out. I had to promise at gun point never to cool developer there again.

Dennis

resummerfield · Aug 5, 2007

I would be more concerned about all the glass slivers from that broken bottle hiding around the countertop.

gainer · Aug 5, 2007

Isoascorbate is the mirror image of Vitamin C. It won't work as Vitamin C for the body, but like one said it is not as bad as the stuff you call detergents and other cleaning supplies. The worst ingredients of Xtol are in such small amounts that they can't hurt you any more than stuff you track in from the outside world. Maybe the oriental custom (I saw it in the Phillipines) of removing shoes at the door is a good idea.

If anyone wants to use the food freezer to cool darkroom stuff, put the container in a good strong plastic garbage bag first. If the container breaks the bag should contain the spillage.

Roger Hicks · Aug 5, 2007

gainer said:
The worst ingredients of Xtol are in such small amounts that they can't hurt you any more than stuff you track in from the outside world.

Sorry, I did not mean to create any other impression; it's just that there are a lot of things in Xtol that are not 'vitamin C and water'. Just before I read this, Frances had reminded me of the time she picked up a prescription for sodium laevothyroxine and the woman next to her said, "If it's just sodium, couldn't you take more salt instead?"

fschifano · Aug 5, 2007

Nothing much to worry about. Just mop up the mess and make sure you get all the glass. Those little splinters hurt like the bejesus when you step on them in bare feet. Hard to remove too. And if you're that worried, you ought to read the MSDS of some common household cleaners. That'll scare the tar out of you.

m_liddell · Aug 5, 2007

Thanks guys, mess is mostly cleaned up now. Xtol appears to leave some kind of powder behind as the water evaporates which makes it easier.

The irony is that I must have needed to wipe the bottom of the bottle because dev was leaking through the crack at the bottom that I didn't see! Luckily the bottom came off in 1 section and stayed in once piece - no glass slivers.

I'm lucky it was xtol, it could have been pyro which isn't quite so nice.

DaveOttawa · Aug 5, 2007

A quote from the Graduate

... seems appropriate here: "Plastics."
Glass bottles have many advantages over plastics for storing photo chemicals, you've just found their overwhelming (IMHO) disadvantage.
Obvioulsy since you make up the solution in water that should work to clean it up, no need to use any other chemicals I would suggets.

Kilgallb · Aug 6, 2007

Ironic isn't it. Kodak actually promotes XTOL as a more environmentally friendly developer than D76. (It doesn't kill fish like D76 does.)

psvensson · Aug 6, 2007

The ingredients may have scary names, but they're not actually scary: apart from the vitamin C analogue, Xtol contains sulfites, which are common food additives; borate, which is used in cleaning liquids; and DTPA, used in soaps. The only component that doesn't have another household use is 4-hydroxymethyl-4-methyl-1-phenyl-3-pyrazolidinone, which is a phenidone derivative. But the amount is small, and there's no known danger from this substance.

xtol accident - spillage

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency