# making hno3 (nitric acid)from nano3 and h2so4



## beaks (May 2, 2009)

1025 gr nano3
350 ml 90% to 98% h2so4
600 ml of distilled water

heat the water to boiling and mix in nano3, stir until disolved.

let cool just under boiling and add h2so4 VERY slowly while stiring or it will boil over and burn you.

take off of heat, cover and let sit until the salts fall out (they will be white) you can cool it on an ice pack or just give it time to cool on its own if its not too hot outside.

DO NOT take this stuff in your house or cook it in your house!

you will have to mix 50/50 or more with distilled water for it to really work good.

I have been using this for a long time and it works great but some of these guys here may want to tweak this to make it better. (its plenty strong enough to eat silver quick)


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## lazersteve (May 2, 2009)

Beaks,

Here's another method that produces a higher strength nitric:

Nitric Recipe

If you check my Guided Tour Link you will find many modifications to this.

It just so happens I'm testing a formula that uses two solids plus heat to make nitric today.

Steve


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## semi-lucid (May 2, 2009)

Steve

If it's possible to make HNO3 without distilling it, why do people on this forum distill it?

John


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## leavemealone (May 2, 2009)

The "Pouring off" method does work.But distilling gives you a much higher concentrated nitric,and it is safer.Distilling does however take much longer to produce a decent amount of nitric.

I puchase mine from dudadiesel heres the link http://www.dudadiesel.com/other_chemicals.php .Its fast,safe,and pretty inexpensive(1 gallon $59 plus shipping)I have been buying it from them for a couple of years and Ive never had a problem.Its 67%.They have a couple other products that are useful to the refiner.
If you insist on trying to make your own nitric,they also sell sodium & potassium nitrate in 10lb quantities for $20(sodium) and $22(potassium).
The owner(brian) is a great guy and really goes the extra mile.Make sure you tell him you are from the gold forum.
Johnny


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## Platdigger (May 2, 2009)

Also, (at least most of the time) distilling becomes necessary when one wants (or needs) a completely chloride, or chlorine free nitric, without buying it.
Randy


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## lazersteve (May 2, 2009)

I buy most of my nitric when I need it. 

I use a lot of sodium nitrate in the modified poor man's AR method, but this doesn't help when you are refining silver.

There are many routes to homemade chloride free nitric if you are will to do the work.

With the cold method I posted it's easy enough to eliminate the traces of chlorine using simple silver nitrate. Add silver nitrate and siphon off the liquid from the silver chloride that precipitates. You'll find that there is not that much chlorine in the better grades of sodium nitrate. If nothing precipitates, there is no chlorine present.


Steve


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## semi-lucid (May 2, 2009)

So when we were discussing recovering HNO3 with a scrubber, there was discussion of the fumes from AR resulting some Cl contaminanation of the resulting nitric.

By the method you just described, it would seem possible the clean up the resulting nitric. I was thinking you would need two scrubber systems, and that you would only use the regenerated nitric from AR to make more AR. (Because it might have some chlorides.)

Is distillation effective in eliminating chlorides?

If you add silver nitrate until you don't get anymore precipitant, it seems that you would be left with a little silver nitrate in solution.

John


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## Platdigger (May 2, 2009)

Also, when making nitric with ammonium nitrate, could the "silver/ammonia" thing become an issue when using it to refine silver?

Randy


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## lazersteve (May 2, 2009)

semi-lucid said:


> If you add silver nitrate until you don't get anymore precipitant, it seems that you would be left with a little silver nitrate in solution.



Yes, but since we are discussing using the nitric for dissolving silver this should not be an issue.

Controlling the amount of silver nitrate used (ie: adding it in small increments) can reduce the excess silver nitrate to a bare minimum. Titration of a small sample of the solution can help you determine exactly how much silver nitrate is required.

Steve


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## beaks (May 2, 2009)

lazersteve said:


> Beaks,
> 
> Here's another method that produces a higher strength nitric:
> 
> ...




how well does it work when you multiply materials by 8 or 10 for big batches? (i like to make about a gallon at a time so i have it on hand when i need it)

solids sounds interesting, Let me know how it works out.

that would be perfect for storage (heat and serve LOL) 

by the way i love the site. all it needs is a forum for people like my wife that only understands enflish. (i have explain everything using terms she understands)(shes great with numbers but not into chem's)


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## lazersteve (May 2, 2009)

Here's a link where a member has scaled the reaction up:

Larger Scale Nitric

The solids reaction worked as anticipated. I only made about 25 mL, but it worked fine. No sulfuric acid required. :wink: Now I'll try some other nitrates...


Steve


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## beaks (May 2, 2009)

i will give it a try and see how it goes.

cool, i wish i had more time to experiment but the silver and gold output come first(i have to pay for my next prospecting trip somehow and i need a new sluicebox LOL)

i tried using h2so4 powder and high grade nano3 a few years ago with good results but i cant get the acid now (my old chem supply is on a state funded 25 year vacation LMAO)

so now i either make it from what i can pick up at the store and on the net or have nitric acid delivered every few months.


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## beaks (May 2, 2009)

leavemealone said:


> The "Pouring off" method does work.But distilling gives you a much higher concentrated nitric,and it is safer.Distilling does however take much longer to produce a decent amount of nitric.
> 
> I puchase mine from dudadiesel heres the link http://www.dudadiesel.com/other_chemicals.php .Its fast,safe,and pretty inexpensive(1 gallon $59 plus shipping)I have been buying it from them for a couple of years and Ive never had a problem.Its 67%.They have a couple other products that are useful to the refiner.
> If you insist on trying to make your own nitric,they also sell sodium & potassium nitrate in 10lb quantities for $20(sodium) and $22(potassium).
> ...



LOL yep and he doesnt waste time shipping it out(i get my nano3 from him now because he is quick)


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## Anonymous (Jul 5, 2009)

I JUST CHECKED OUT THAT SITE ITS $99.00 A GALLON FOR NITRIC NOW!!..any cheaper places  .im looking for a quart????/


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