How Do I Turn Pure Nitrogen into a Nitrate ?
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Not likely to make the conversion easy at all, nitric acid can be made from the air we breath which is mostly nitrogen (lightning or in high voltage sparks), but that is not easy for us to do on a small scale, it would be an awful lot of work to get maybe a couple of drops of acid.
basically forget it (it can be done), but is will not be worth the effort, and you would have very little to show for your work.
basically forget it (it can be done), but is will not be worth the effort, and you would have very little to show for your work.
Looks like you need to find a natural deposit or react nitric acid with sodium carbonate or react ammonium nitrate with sodium hydroxide, all of which would be a lot more expensive then simply buying it where they sell fertilizer.jedaprin said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_nitrate
ericrm
Well-known member
look on youtube , i saw a video of a guy making nitric acid from tin air. i dont remember the name
https://www.google.com/search?q=birkeland+eyde&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US
fficial&client=firefox-a
fficial&client=firefox-aBasically there are a few ways to change nitrogen into nitrates, nitrogen oxides or ammonia, or make nitric acid from nitrogen, the nitrogen does not react easily, and seems to rather stay or go back to nitrogen, but none of the processes are easy on a small scale, and would not be worth the effort to attempt unless you just want to make a few drops to prove you can do it, I already mentioned the high voltage arc or lightning producing nitric from the air Here are a couple more methods.
Wikipedia quote:
Modern ammonia-producing plants depend on industrial hydrogen production to react with atmospheric nitrogen using a magnetite catalyst or over a promoted Fe catalyst under high pressure (100 atm) and temperature (450°C) to form anhydrous liquid ammonia. This step is known as the ammonia synthesis loop (also referred to as the Haber-Bosch process):[23]
3 H2 + N2 → 2 NH3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrate_fixation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrification
To me it would be much easier to make nitric acid from composted soil (manure and urine), or bat guano from caves, chicken manure, blood meal, or other high nitrate source, using this to make KNO3 salts then using them to make nitric acid, than it would from high voltage arc, or with high temperatures and pressures with a catalyst reaction.
But with fertilizer so abundant and cheap why bother unless you just want to prove the process, or had no alternative.
Basically buy nitric if you can , buy fertilizer if you have to make your own.
Ammonium nitrate mixed with potassium hydroxide will make potassium nitrate and ammonium hydroxide, the ammonium hydroxide when water removed by evaporation would convert to ammonia and water, as more water was removed as vapor, the ammonia would also vapor off, leaving crystals of potassium nitrate, (do not heat too strongly to crystallize the salt, the potassium salts are less soluble than sodium salts, (so it may be easier than using sodium salts), as the KNO3 can crystallize out long before all of the liquid is gone allowing you to separate crystals from the evaporated solution.
NH4NO3 + KOH --> KNO3 + NH4OH
NH4OH (H2O) --> NH3 + H2O
Another method:
2NH4NO3 + K2CO3 --> 2KNO3 + H2O +CO2 + 2NH3
here again careful crystallization, the water, carbon dioxide, and ammonia vapor off.
Another:
NH4NO3 + NaOH --> NaNO3 + NH4OH
NH4OH --> NH3 + H2O
and:
NH4NO3 + NaHCO3 --> NaNO3 + NH4CO3
not sure how the ammonium carbonate would react but I guess it would vapor off as ammonia and carbon dioxide gas as well. ( but I am not sure).
Wikipedia quote:
Modern ammonia-producing plants depend on industrial hydrogen production to react with atmospheric nitrogen using a magnetite catalyst or over a promoted Fe catalyst under high pressure (100 atm) and temperature (450°C) to form anhydrous liquid ammonia. This step is known as the ammonia synthesis loop (also referred to as the Haber-Bosch process):[23]
3 H2 + N2 → 2 NH3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrate_fixation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrification
To me it would be much easier to make nitric acid from composted soil (manure and urine), or bat guano from caves, chicken manure, blood meal, or other high nitrate source, using this to make KNO3 salts then using them to make nitric acid, than it would from high voltage arc, or with high temperatures and pressures with a catalyst reaction.
But with fertilizer so abundant and cheap why bother unless you just want to prove the process, or had no alternative.
Basically buy nitric if you can , buy fertilizer if you have to make your own.
Ammonium nitrate mixed with potassium hydroxide will make potassium nitrate and ammonium hydroxide, the ammonium hydroxide when water removed by evaporation would convert to ammonia and water, as more water was removed as vapor, the ammonia would also vapor off, leaving crystals of potassium nitrate, (do not heat too strongly to crystallize the salt, the potassium salts are less soluble than sodium salts, (so it may be easier than using sodium salts), as the KNO3 can crystallize out long before all of the liquid is gone allowing you to separate crystals from the evaporated solution.
NH4NO3 + KOH --> KNO3 + NH4OH
NH4OH (H2O) --> NH3 + H2O
Another method:
2NH4NO3 + K2CO3 --> 2KNO3 + H2O +CO2 + 2NH3
here again careful crystallization, the water, carbon dioxide, and ammonia vapor off.
Another:
NH4NO3 + NaOH --> NaNO3 + NH4OH
NH4OH --> NH3 + H2O
and:
NH4NO3 + NaHCO3 --> NaNO3 + NH4CO3
not sure how the ammonium carbonate would react but I guess it would vapor off as ammonia and carbon dioxide gas as well. ( but I am not sure).
sweet im looking into this i have pure nitrogen in crystal form i got it from a plant wholesaler store
what would happen if i mixed the nitrogen crystals with hydrogen peroxide and Lye Sodium Hydroxide Would this make a nitrate salt ??
im not familiar with electro chemistry and wouldnt want to hurt myself in the process so ill leave that part out when for when im more advanced
what would happen if i mixed the nitrogen crystals with hydrogen peroxide and Lye Sodium Hydroxide Would this make a nitrate salt ??
im not familiar with electro chemistry and wouldnt want to hurt myself in the process so ill leave that part out when for when im more advanced
jedaprin,
nitrogen is a gas not a crystal.
It sounds like you have some type of nitrates. we would need better information as to what you actually have before giving advice, chemistry can be dangerous when mixing things, especially if we do not know what it is we are mixing.
find out exactly what that wholesaler is selling first.
nitrogen is a gas not a crystal.
It sounds like you have some type of nitrates. we would need better information as to what you actually have before giving advice, chemistry can be dangerous when mixing things, especially if we do not know what it is we are mixing.
find out exactly what that wholesaler is selling first.
Nitrogen, N2, freezes at -210C or -346F. Only then would it crystallize. Liquid nitrogen boils at -321F
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070831100820AAjNKBg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_nitrogen
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070831100820AAjNKBg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_nitrogen
Geo
Well-known member
jedaprin, i feel you are confused about something. pure nitrogen is a gas. if you bought "nitrogen" at a nursery, you bought a nitrogen based fertilizer. be careful what people tell you where you buy these things because most have no idea what they are talking about. if you have nitrogen in crystal form, it can only be fertilizer. on the container there should be a listing that reads something like this,
"guaranteed analysis"
"nitrogen in the form of nitrate -- ?%
"calcium ------------------------------?%
"ammonia-----------------------------?%
"other----------------------------------?%
what you have should already be a nitrate.
"guaranteed analysis"
"nitrogen in the form of nitrate -- ?%
"calcium ------------------------------?%
"ammonia-----------------------------?%
"other----------------------------------?%
what you have should already be a nitrate.
qst42know
Well-known member
Plant food nitrogen crystals may well be urea.
