Rp that has been saved and re-cleaned....now switrd was told at one point, to test the rp's cleanliness....take a small amount and roll it up in a little ball and put a flame to it. The quicker it ignites and the less residue left behind means, the cleaner it is. Why doesn't the reclaimed rp do the same? It was saved from his last rxn and has since been washed in alcohol, gently boiled in acid(to remove charmin plug particles) and rinsed in warm dH2o. Dried and finely ground. Yet it fails to ignite. Is it still ok to use?

I would have to say no. It is unusual though. I knew a guy who had used the rp 5 times and even after extensive cleaning was left with a light colored pile of ashy dirt that had him saying, "Aww, I don't know Wally. Looks like it might be dead. Maybe we shouldn't use it again. Let's sell it to Eddie."

Even rp this tired burned with a trailing edge of green sparks.

I also don't know about the leaving no residue part. This has never been observed by Swigotta. It has always left a residue. As a matter of fact, the times it burned so quickly and emmensely, it left a big white ring on the floor. A pile the size of half a bb did that and filled the entire basement with smoke that smelled just like the fourth of July (in the US).

One thing I learned not too very long ago is the necessity of cleaning multiple times with a non polar solvent on all post reaction red. A combination of xylene, naptha, and toluene used to soak the post rxn red (heated preferably) removes things that nothing else ever will. The next time you have some "clean" post rxn red that hasn't been washed in non polar, try it. That's a lot of milky white shit, isn't it?

If it's not too well used, try to clean it up more before tossing it. If it doesn't burn, Swigotta wouldn't risk using it.

Thank you for the quick reply gotta. Switrd hasn't thrown anything away yet. And you're right about the residue thing. Switrd wonders if lab grade leaves any, when burned. I intend to tell 'em about your suggestions of soaking in xylene, naptha, and toluene. (preferably heated) Thank you gotta....Switrd will see what becomes of this and I will report back any unusual findings, or if that infact does the trick.

*back to the drawing-board*

Switrd got it. Apparently the jar in which he had stored the rp had some moisture at the bottom. Upon dumping it out, weighing it, then testing a sample...He realized the rp was not completely dry though it appeared to be at the time. That's what staying up will do to ya. Thank you anyway gotta.

Have you ever concider useing hypophosphorus? There's no filtering or cleaning cause it all gets consumed in the reaction. Just wondering. thankx

Switrd's tossed the idea around a bit, but it seems like there's much debate about if you can have it....where you can, for what, how much!! To much to worry about for now. Besides switrd's gonna keep doing it this way until he comes up with something like wicked was talking about here in a recent thread.