Woodchopa Posted May 12, 2017 Share Posted May 12, 2017 Hey everyone I've got a different supply of kno3 it indicates on the bottle kno3 99.5% purity. anyway I opened the hdpe screw top bottle and immediately got a really really strong smell of ammonia. Has anyone ever encountered this before?All my other kno3 that I no longer have was odourless.This stuff is a clean white colour, a little coarser than table salt.Is it ok to use? Forgive my silliness but could it be ammonium nitrate the supplier sent me?Please help Cheers guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lloyd Posted May 12, 2017 Share Posted May 12, 2017 Place some on a fireproof surface, and heat it to red heat with a torch. KNO3 will leave molten potassium oxide. Ammonium nitrate will decompose entirely to gas. Lloyd 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limak Posted May 12, 2017 Share Posted May 12, 2017 (edited) I have strong smell (like ammonia) always when i open jar with fresh ball milled pot nitrate. It doesn't smell like normal salt. Why? I'm buying KNO3, which is for garden purposes. Edited May 12, 2017 by limak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryaer Posted May 29, 2017 Share Posted May 29, 2017 (edited) I've never had that problem with KNO3, I guess if you bought it from a garden supply store ammonia would make sense. Edited May 29, 2017 by ryaer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tdyoung1989 Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 I have not had this issue ever... Might buy from elsewhere? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodchopa Posted July 17, 2017 Author Share Posted July 17, 2017 Thanks for the reply guys, I tested it Lloyd and it is potassium nitrate, I am willing to bet that the 99.5 % purity is a load of crap! I tipped the whole 1 kg bottle out to inspect it and it has light brown spots all through the powder, not very impressed, and I will try and find another supplier which is hard in Australia. I milled a 125g batch of bp using the mentioned kn03 and when I opened the mill jar after completion the smell was strong enough to burn my eyes!The product was bought from an online chemical supply store. Cheers guys stay safe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lloyd Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 Y'know, if the whole of the mass were a little 'off-white', I'd suspect they'd added urea to boost the nitrogen content... but 'spots' sound like it's been contaminated with something that is catalyzing decomposition of the KNO3. Ammonia certainly can be one of the byproducts of its low-temperature decomposition. Lloyd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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