Questions About My First Batch Of Nitric Acid

[butcher]

your byproduct salt has many uses in chemistry, can also be converted back to sodium nitrate, with a nitrate like calcium.or copper nitrate (then that byproduct can be used in another reaction, or used as a product you probbaby pay big money for (sewerline root killer or the coppersulfate for that passive stripping system mentioned on this forum or gardening ect)most chemicals we purchase are usually byproducts of some industrial processes, including sulfuric and nitric ect ect.
Viasin if you have a Napa auto store can get new Battery acid there cheap gallon or 5 gal. boil this down boiling out the water(water boils out first sulfuric boiling point is much higher and will not boil out till >98%), can get it to 98% when you see white fumes,this can be used for your cold poormans HNO3, and is much purer than the drain cleaner.
I find it also seems to make better nitric.
although I hardly ever make it poor man style as distilling for me is easy, and I dont use labware just household items ( searce my earlier post for a hard reading discription,
{ if distilling my nitric with it I dont boil all the water out as some water will help to convert the nitrate fertilyzer, and the sodium sulfate forme in reaction helps to act as dehydrator keeping water from boiling out with the NO2 gas making a stronger nitric.
it helps to look up the formulas and learn to write them and balance them then search for uses for your byproduct, you will start finding all kinds of uses for your byproducts.
edit to add another thought

 

[viacin]

Yes, I need to try other sources of sulfuric. Buy ya know, I'm not so certian it's profitable to make my own. I was doing the math today. This actually costs me MUCH more than if I would just bought a 2.5L bottle of nitric and used the amount I produced. For the 300ml of nitric I produced, I spent a rough total of $11.75 on chemicals (1/4 of my bottle of sulfuric, and 1.5lbs of sodium nitrate), plus the 11 hours of work. I could have bought a bottle for $56, took two seconds to pour it out, and only spend $4 for that amount. Of cource, I wouldn't have learned all I did either, so i'm still glad I did it.

Now if I was buying my nitrate by the 50lb bag, and my sulfuric by the gallon, it would be a little better. Plus the 11 hours I spent on two batches was obvious noob time. I figure it should actually take about a hour per batch (you must still wait for it to cool, ya know).

I've found some nitric acid for $10/L, but it's only about 35%. Either way, this would have to be the best way to go if you don't have access to 55 gallon drums.

 

[Platdigger]

If you don't mind sharing, were did you find 35 percent nitric for 10$/L?
Randy

 

[butcher]

I get fertilizer and sulfuric fairly cheap compared to nitric and shipping, or driving cost, can by at local mining shop but $$$$. or drive to sandy Oregun$$$, even if I use stump remover still cheaper than buying nitric,and alot of people are finding it almost impossible to get nitric nowadays.

 

[viacin]

If you don't mind sharing, were did you find 35 percent nitric for 10$/L?
Randy

Nah, I don't mind. It was sold on ebay. Here's a pic of the product
[img:154:392]http://forums.cannabisculture.com/forums/uploads/996631-pHDown.jpg[/img]

I'm finding out that there are a lot of hydroponic "ph down" products that contain nitric acid. This one is supposed to be 35%. There are several others that are anywhere from 10-40% nitric, with the other % being water or other acids depending on the brand. Most go for about $10-$25 a liter. But, as always the higher the percentage, the higher the price. Here's one I found a few minutes ago: http://www.growell.co.uk/p/1221/Nitric-Acid-pH-Down.html

You have got to find a MSDS on them first however, and check the percentage and other chemicals added.

The problem is shipping. Most of the sites I've seen are Canadian or UK and do not ship USA. I have found a few on ebay, but they charge a premium. The best bet is to cruise your local hydroponic shop.

Now that I think about it, it seems like I've read this before. Skippy has mentioned that hydroponic stores sell nitric back in March. If he's still around, maybe he would be kind enough to fill us in on a good brand.

 

[qst42know]

If this is the brand it's only 5-10%.

http://www.n-g-w.com/ngw/literature/technaflora_phdown.pdf

 

[viacin]

nah, it's not that one. the one you found is this one ("ph down" on right):

[img:365:300]http://www.allseasonsnashville.com/graphics/technaflora%20ph.jpg[/img]

I looked into it last night. It does have a low price ($9.95/L), I wonder if it could be boiled down. And more importantly, how the price-to-nitric content compares to 70% for $65.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for that link Viacin, I will need to check the concentration with them but it looks like you may have found my Nitric supply for me. :lol:
If anyone else in the UK is interested this company charge the same postage if you order 1 or 50 bottles (£5.95 P+P). I will post the concentration when I have spoken to them tomorrow.

 

[qst42know]

You cannot boil it down it must be distilled. Others have done this (distilled nitric acid) I'm sure they will respond.

 

[Anonymous]

For those members resident in the UK, I contacted Growell Hydroponics, the company Viacin linked to in an earlier post on this thread, to find the Nitric concentration of their Nitric acid ph down. Its is 38% Nitric acid so it could be distilled if you wanted concentrated Nitric but most threads on the forum ask for 50/50 Nitric/water so it isn't far of the resulting concentration, I suppose it depends what the other 62% of the bottle is.
I would have thought that this could at the very least be used for gold recovery even if it isn't the best option for final refining.

Your thoughts and advice are welcomed

 

[lazersteve]

Marty,

50/50 nitric is made with 1 part water 1 part 70% nitric.

This means 50/50 is 35% nitric acid.

Steve

 

[Anonymous]

Steve, thats what I was getting at, I realised that the percentage would be about correct, I was more concerned with what else may be in the solution, buffers etc and if they could be a problem to the reactions we would want to perform with it.
Marty