# Nitric Acid



## goldsilverpro (Apr 7, 2007)

Getting nitric acid seems to be a problem for most of you. The last time I bought it was about 2 years ago. I bought a 55 gal drum in Houston. It was used in a large industrial plant so, there were never any problems getting it. I think the name of the company we bought it from was Industrial something. Maybe, Industrial Chemicals and Supplies. Industrial was a company that repackaged industrial grade chemicals into smaller lots. For example, they sold nitric in 1, 5, 15 and 55 gal. containers. If you go to a large chemical supplier, such as Univar, you can only buy 55 gal drums. The big suppliers don't usually repackage. There's usually at least one company in each city that repackages. You have to call around. In the L.A. area, there used to be Tri-ess Sciences. 

When I bought the nitric, two years ago, I asked the salesman what the laws were concerning buying nitric in Texas. He said that anyone could buy it if they picked it up themselves. They would only deliver or ship to companies. Due to the hazards, shipping costs could be several times more than the cost of the nitric. Local delivery was free if you bought a certain amount.

He said that, in Texas, any quantity above 5 gallons had to be in stainless containers. One and five gallons could be in plastic.

Prices at that time were as follows: A 1 gallon jug was $12. A 55 gal drum was $2.50/gallon. The other sizes were somewhere in between. The 5 gallon container ran about $7/gallon. The 15 gallon carboy about $4/gallon. The 15 and 55 gallon containers were stainless and both required large refundable deposits. The deposit on the 55 gallon drum was $750. The 15 gallon was around $200 or $300. 

Call around to chemical companies and get info for your state.

When I got the acid in, I always pumped about 8 gallons into good one gallon plastic jugs, for ease and safety of handling. Don't use milk jugs. They're too thin. I always bought new jugs from Industrial. They were only a dollar, or so, each. Make sure they give you lids. Transferring acids can be dangerous. Here's the way I did it. This method works for any liquid chemicals. Most chemical companies sell inexpensive plastic, siphon type drum pumps. You can also get them at Grangers. They can be used on any size container, up to 55 gal. There are basically two types, the more expensive heavier red ones at about $10-$20 and the green ones at at about $7-$12. I prefer the green ones. They are less bulky. Also, the green ones have a fast flip type seal cap (vent) whereas, the seal cap on the red ones is a more cumbersome screw on type. Here's the red type. This company's prices are much cheaper than normal. Maybe, the first one listed is the green one. You can see the red screw on seal cap (vent) at the very top of the handle.

http://www.bascousa.com/store/item.aspx?DEPARTMENT_ID=119&ITEM_ID=165

Before pumping, I get everything ready. You'll need rubber gloves and a welder's type face shield. Have a couple of milk jugs full of water to rinse off any nitric drips that get onto the jugs you are filling. If you're outside, use a hose. Put a jug into an empty 5 gal. plastic bucket. With the seal cap open, put the stem of the pump into the nitric. Put the hose part of the pump into the empty jug. Close the seal cap and pump a few times to get the siphon going. When the jug is filled to about 3" from the top, immediately open the seal cap to break the seal and stop the siphoning. You'll have to move fast. When you open the seal cap, the jug will keep filling until the hose is empty. If your timing is right, the jug will finally be filled to about 1" from the top. Be careful. It's very easy to overflow the jug. The seal caps on the green pumps can be manipulated, with practice, much faster than the red pumps. Fill a bucket with water, raise it about a foot, and practice a few times siphoning the water into jugs.

Hold the tip of the pump hose above the jug opening until it stops dripping. Put the hose into a second empty bucket. Put the jug lid on and rinse the jug with water. Repeat

When you're through, pull the pump stem out of the nitric and allow it to drip dry. Put the stem into the second bucket with the pump hose. Hold onto both the bucket and pump and carry them outside. Open the seal cap and, grabbing both hose and stem together, turn the pump upside down. Pour water into the stem and hose until the pump is thoroughly rinsed. It will drain from the open seal cap. Turn the pump upright and hang it up to dry. If you don't rinse the pump well, any trapped acid will eventually degrade the pump and it will stop working properly. It will mess up the internal valves.

The next time you use the pump, check to see if it's perfectly dry. If it isn't, rinse the pump with a little distilled water. You don't want to get any tap water in the nitric. Tap water contains chlorine. This will cause problems if you dissolve silver. The chlorine in the tap water combines with the dissolved silver to form the insoluble silver chloride. I also give any jugs that have contained tap water a couple of small distilled water rinses.

Reagent grade lab chemicals cost as much as 50 to 100 times more than technical grade chemicals, I know of no refining process that requires the use of any reagent grade chemicals. They are a waste of money.


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## Fever (Apr 7, 2007)

Also check your local gold prospecting supply stores. Miners use Nitric to dissolve Mercury off of their gold. I get mine in small 20oz bottles for small applications. 

Fever


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## PRECIOUS METALS (Apr 7, 2007)

I GOT NITRIC AVAILABLE BUT ONLY IN THE LA AREA FOR LOCAL PICK UP


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## Anonymous (Aug 8, 2007)

Hi Guys:

Is nitric acid really needed to make Aqua Regia? I think I read someplace where you can add sodium nitrate to HCL and get the same result. Am I correct on this?

Hunchback


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## goldsilverpro (Aug 8, 2007)

Yes, you're correct. I know it's not an easy task to wade through the vast amount of info on this forum. Your question about the use of sodium nitrate, as a substitute for nitric acid, has been answered dozens of times, in great detail.


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## lazersteve (Aug 8, 2007)

Hunchback,

Here's the forum guided tour for newbies:

Guided Tour

Steve


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## PRECIOUS METALS (Aug 8, 2007)

hi steve thanks for the dvd on how to refine gold from boards 
it explains everything details ,every one in the forum should have this

thanks for selling it to me for 30 bucks its worth alot more ,this info is priceless/


thanks

precious metals


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## Anonymous (Aug 8, 2007)

Hi Everyone:

Thanks for the information.!   

Hunchback


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## jerrycranium (Oct 13, 2007)

At their web site www.abprospecting.com they sell Ntric Acid Reagent Grade. 1 gallon is $29.95 plus a $30 hazardous handling fee, plus shipping.

Might be usefull info.


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## Lou (Nov 4, 2007)

That seems overly expensive.

Brenntag and Univar are my sources for nitric, Fisher if and only if I must have absolutely pure metal (and yes, there are situations which call for ''Spectral" grade acids, that are ppb impurity trace metals).

You can easily purify technical grade nitric by a simple redistillation. Nitric acid has an azeotrope with water at about 65% IIRC, and that's approximately 16M. Last time I titrated any technical grade nitric it was only about 54% nitric.


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## eagle2 (Dec 13, 2007)

I would be very careful about storing concd Nitric acid in plastic jugs for long term (a year or more). Its a very strong oxidizer and will attack plastic. In a few months your jug will start turning brown. In about a year it may be so brittle it will be in danger of breaking. 

I use dark brown glass gallon jugs, with a real acid resistant cap. They are plastic, too. only certain types of caps are rated for nitric.

Dilute Nitric will still do it, but may take years.

Al


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## Lou (Dec 13, 2007)

Very true Eagle. Even your phenolic cap on your nice amber glass acid bottle will slowly be destroyed. You'd be even more surprised at the difference between concentrated ~96-98% nitric and plain old white nitric which is about 30% more dilute. Red fuming attacks HDPE (like that from a milk jug) within minutes.

Amber glass is heavy, and the caps don't last long unless they're Bakelite or PTFE coated. I store my nitric in the dark in ETFE bottles, which in my opinion are the most amazing bottle I've ever used. Got them for about 1/10th their normal price too!They withstand ~45 psi pressure, any and all chemicals at room temperature that I can think of, and they're plastic so they don't break if dropped, they bounce.


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## eagle2 (Dec 13, 2007)

Lou. I looked up ETFE at Wikipedia. Its a Fluoro-carbon based plastic. Very strong.


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