Strong Acids and Strong Bases

[Headache2013]

Sirs;

I have to design a storage area for some chemical products (defoaming agent, glycol, corrosion inhibitor, emulsion breaker, deoiler, biocide and scale inhibitor)..
I learnt from several literatures that we shall separate chemicals if these chemicals can react between each other.
In the MSDS of the chemical above, there is always a paragraph stipulating 'Reactivity' or 'Materials to Avoid'.

In these MSDS I found that Strong Acids, Strong Bases, strong oxidizing agents, strong alkalis, strong reducers are very often listed as Material to Avoid (case by case).

a) Could some one teach me to which parameter in the MSDS should-I look to decide if the material is strong alkalis, strong reducers .

b) I know that if PH is less than 7, the product is acid. PH between 7 and 14 , the chemical product is Base. But what are the values corresponding to the adjective 'Strong'?
in other words what are the PH values that corresponds to a 'Strong' acid and what are the PH values that corresponds to 'Strong' base.

Thank you

 

[dogtop]

see:

http://www.science.uwaterloo.ca/~cchieh/cact/c123/stacids.html

 

[EdStainless]

Strong is usually a combination of two factors, the pH and degree to which the product will dissociate (and its solubility).
There are a lot of strong acids (HCl being the prime example). It nearly always will fully dissociate, and even fairly dilute solutions have very low pH values.
There are only a few strong bases, and they are just as nasty.

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P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube

 

[georgeverghese]

Standard procedure is to sit each tank in an individual bunded area - the bund holdup volume should be at least 110% or more than the tank max storage volume. Flammable liquids should be kept away from electrically safe classified areas.
Inter tank separation distance should not permit static head driven spills from one tank to end up in the bund of another tank. The Australian standard on tanks has some simple formulas on this last recommendation - dont remember the AS number, sorry.

 

[Headache2013]

Sirs;

Would you please to assist by answering to my questions.

Thanks

 

[Latexman]

MSDS's are usually reviewed by lawyers for liability reasons. As such, they use a lot of "weasel" words and are not usually direct. I doubt an MSDS will ever say, "This chemical is a strong acid". Also, I don't think there is a established definition of a strong acid. So, one has to figure these things out on their own. Think of how you could categorize these acids, like weak, moderate, and strong. Now, how to define that? How about strong is pH < 2, moderate is pH 3-5, and weak is pH 5-7. Maybe this will help Acid Strength.

Good luck,
Latexman

To a ChE, the glass is always full - 1/2 air and 1/2 water.

 

[moltenmetal]

I suspect you don't really care how "strong" the acid is, you care how corrosive it is, or how likely it is to react with a base.

HF is a weak acid in dissociation terms, but it's a strong acid in corrosion terms!