Adrigal1234 Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 (edited) Hi I live in the UK, we cannot get many of the chemicals that are available to people from other countries so synthesis is often the only option, I am 41 and now regret not paying attention in school and have to admit to being unable to do stoicometry and equations (hangs head in shame) Is it possible to obtain KNO3 from the double decomposition of Ammonium Nitrate and Potassium Sulphate (Sulfate) ? Edited October 19, 2008 by Adrigal1234 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 That specific reaction probably wont work. Potassium sulfate is the least soluble IIRC, so it will keep the equilibrium on the wrong side. Using Potassium Hydroxide or Potassium Carbonate should work though. If you boil the solution, ammonia gas will be generated and constantly keep shifting the equilibrium until you have nearly pure Potassium nitrate. As mentioned before, ammonia gas is given off, which isn't pleasant and may provide some logistical challenges in doing so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarezWally Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 From what I can tell buying potassium nitrate is a fairly simple process in the UK, I know a few suppliers out that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrigal1234 Posted October 19, 2008 Author Share Posted October 19, 2008 From what I can tell buying potassium nitrate is a fairly simple process in the UK, I know a few suppliers out that way. I would be very interested to hear more because I have been looking for it both in pure form and in extractable form for 4 years without luck. In the UK the government is about as restrictive as its possible for a Democracy to be,they wont even let us buy more than 32 Aspirin tablets at any one time, so with the deepest respect I dont think your information is accurate on this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrigal1234 Posted October 19, 2008 Author Share Posted October 19, 2008 That specific reaction probably wont work. Potassium sulfate is the least soluble IIRC, so it will keep the equilibrium on the wrong side. Using Potassium Hydroxide or Potassium Carbonate should work though. If you boil the solution, ammonia gas will be generated and constantly keep shifting the equilibrium until you have nearly pure Potassium nitrate. As mentioned before, ammonia gas is given off, which isn't pleasant and may provide some logistical challenges in doing so. Thank you, thats really helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike_au Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 I would be very interested to hear more because I have been looking for it both in pure form and in extractable form for 4 years without luck. In the UK the government is about as restrictive as its possible for a Democracy to be,they wont even let us buy more than 32 Aspirin tablets at any one time, so with the deepest respect I dont think your information is accurate on this one. Look harder I just found two suppliers in the UK in about 5 minutes. Their prices are a bit excessive (60pounds for 25kg) but they exist. (hint: UK Pyro Society) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 I highly doubt you could look for 4 years and not find anything. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=P...sium+nitrate+UK There are a few sources in the first 10 hits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrigal1234 Posted October 20, 2008 Author Share Posted October 20, 2008 I highly doubt you could look for 4 years and not find anything. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=P...sium+nitrate+UK There are a few sources in the first 10 hits. Thank you guys (and my apologies to the Australian guy, Wally,you were right!! sorry mate!) In my defence I had never considered internet purchase and was refering only to "store purchase". You wouldnt believe the number of chemists / hardware stores and Garden Centres I have scoured over the last 4 years. I am learning loads from this Forum thank you all for your patience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swede Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Thank you guys (and my apologies to the Australian guy, Wally,you were right!! sorry mate!) In my defence I had never considered internet purchase and was refering only to "store purchase". You wouldnt believe the number of chemists / hardware stores and Garden Centres I have scoured over the last 4 years. I am learning loads from this Forum thank you all for your patience.No problem! Short of a fanciful, non-existent "Bill's Complete Pyro Supply" store at a mall (wouldn't that be great??) mail and internet resources are all there is. You simply can't walk into a garden center and find Antimony Trisulfide or Potassium Perchlorate, stuff like that. One of the first things you have to do is gather a list of good, reputable suppliers for your area, and cultivate a good relationship with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Is there much point in taking a hard to source NH4NO3 to make a trade available and cheap KNO3? If you have a source of ammonium nitrate then likely there is potassium nitrate in the same place. Also if you have Ammonium nitrate you could trade with a UK pyro and get Pot nitrate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrigal1234 Posted October 21, 2008 Author Share Posted October 21, 2008 Is there much point in taking a hard to source NH4NO3 to make a trade available and cheap KNO3? If you have a source of ammonium nitrate then likely there is potassium nitrate in the same place. Also if you have Ammonium nitrate you could trade with a UK pyro and get Pot nitrate! Im only doing basic stuff and not much of it so I use Ammonium nitrate from Instant cold packs but thanks for the advice, its certainly something I will bear in mind for the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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