DIY Nitric Acid

[oldmanbeefjerky]

He was justified however.

 

also, i WAS going to try that, since i had discovered that the nitric acid could be recycled to make much more lead nitrate and copper nitrate, but at $30 for fuming nitric acid, i say what the hell, ill go buy some.

its silly that the same place sells literally everything else at ridiculously inflated prices, with the exception of iodine and sulfuric acid, which cost about their wholesale prices since they are available if food/feed grades which are cheaper.

[Ralph]

 

I may not be leading by example lately, but be nice Ralph. You don't have the clout here to get away with saying stuff like that. It also doesn't really make a big point trying to insult his intelligence while spelling intelligent incorrectly and using next to no punctuation. An insult from a 3rd grader may still be an insult, but it doesn't really cut that deep.

 

Talk to him in chat for 5 min he seems determined on killing him self by doing things like filling glass vials with flash and when seymour and I say look buddy thats pretty stupid he is like its only 10ml not like you can fit to much flash in there

[oldmanbeefjerky]

like i said, it was a pretty silly idea. flash powder would never have worked anyway.

[backyardchemist]

I bought 1 lb of MCNC from a private source. Everybody would laugh at the price I paid. Now, I need more, but don't want a nose bleed over the expense.

 

I'm still trying to figure out a relatively simple safe way to DIY MCNC.

 

Sulfuric acid is readily available in bulk @ a very reasonable price per gallon. I can safely concentrate it in a an old style 70's stove top thick Pyrex 12 cup coffee pot on a lab grade hot plate with a temp control setting dial in the middle of 40 acres. So, fumes or danger to other persons, or others property is not an issue. I have numerous nitrates in bulk. I have a bulk source of MCC & several lbs on hand.

 

What I need to know is at what temp do you boil battery grade Sulfuric acid & for how long for an acceptable concentration range.

 

Which nitrate is best?

 

What volume to what volume (or in parts) do you add.

 

I assume you agitate or stir the mixture under heat until the nitrate is dissolved?

(what temp?)

 

Once that's done, distilling off the nitric acid into a compatible container is relatively simple.

 

Now what?

 

How much MCC to how much nitric acid under what conditions to get pyro grade MCNC?

 

(this is for a smokeless and or low smoke flare comp)

 

Assuming I get this far?

 

I gather you safely pour off as much nitric acid as possible into a separate compatible container.

 

Then I gather you flood the container containing the MCNC with a continuous gentle flow of clean water for an extended time to dilute & remove the remaining nitric acid.

 

I can give it a 2^nd separate wash on a magnetic stir plate.

 

I can handle it from there with filter paper & a Buchner funnel to remove the MCNC.

 

FYI, I have a long acid resistant apron, shoulder length acid resistant gloves, a full face shied & respirator.

Years back I did considerable work with cyanide, in heap leach gold recovery systems. So, I have experience with toxic chemicals & mixes.

 

I realize this is a sensitive subject, because these chemicals are not something kids or irresponsible people should fool with.

If anyone doesn't care to publicly post any pointers, please be so kind as to privately PM me.

I would be very grateful one way or the other.

You boil the sulfuric acid until you see white acid fumes, which occur when you get past around 50% concentration. After boiling that down about halfway, you are left with sulfuric acid concentrated well enough to use for most experiments. You can put a stirr bar in with the mixture to stir it, but just swirling it or using a stir bar will work. As for the nitrates, I would use potassium, but I have made Nitric acid from ammonium notrate from ice packs. Edited April 20, 2013 by backyardchemist