Fuming Nitric Acid?
Scott Devine
How is fuming nitric acid made? I know it is a rocket fuel, but what goes
into its production and what companies make it?
-------------------------------------Scott Devine
John Logajan
>How is fuming nitric acid made? I know it is a rocket fuel, but what goes
>into its production and what companies make it?
Fuming nitric acid (90% nitric acid or greater) can be made by vacuum
distilling concentrated sulfuric acid and sodium nitrate. The vacuum of
an aspirator is just fine. 685 grams sulfuric acid to 600 grams sodium
nitrate is moderately boiled and in 20 minutes or so the above amounts
should produce 300 ml pure nitric acid. The recieveing container is cooled
by a surrounding bath of rubbing alcohol wetted dry ice.
Source -- Home Workshop Explosives, by Uncle Fester, available from Loompanics
Unlimited, book dealer.
--
- John Logajan MS010, Network Systems; 7600 Boone Ave; Brooklyn Park, MN 55428
- log...@network.com, 612-424-4888, Fax 612-424-2853
William Hawkins
During the seventies I worked for Hercules ( spun off from DuPont with
Atlas in 1914 or so). We made nitric acid from ammonia and air using
an amazing apparatus that bootstrapped up from a 400 HP steam turbine
to a 7000 HP gas expander that recovered the heat of combustion. But
the gas was just absorbed in water. The acid was neutralized with
ammonia to make ammonium nitrate. It was quite an energetic reaction,
judging by the noise from the neutralization tank.
There was a distillation column at a dynamite plant in Bessemer, AL,
that recovered concentrated sulfuric acid and red fuming nitric acid
from the glycerine nitration process. I saw it before it was covered
with insulation. The column was about 12" dia cast iron pipe, and the
condenser was glass, about six feet high and two feet in diameter, with
a great coil of glass tubing inside. What a shame to cover that with
insulation.
Anyway, you make RFNA (red fuming nitric acid) by removing as much of
the water as necessary to concentrate it. No doubt others will be
able to give you more quantitative details.
bill nelson
>How is fuming nitric acid made? I know it is a rocket fuel, but what goes
>into its production and what companies make it?
Fuming nitric acid is simply nitric acid with containing dissolved nitrogen
oxides. It usually is described as either "white" or "red" fuming nitric,
although the actual color can vary - depending on the concentration and
mix of oxides.
Bill
John Logajan
>Fuming nitric acid is simply nitric acid with containing dissolved nitrogen
>oxides. It usually is described as either "white" or "red" fuming nitric,
>although the actual color can vary - depending on the concentration and
>mix of oxides.
Less than 90% concentration is usually clear, 90% is often yellow. The
yellow stuff can be cleared up with some urea cleaning process. All
variaties can turn redish from the nitrogen oxides. Red nitric acid is
not good for making explosives.
Tom Perigrin
>aq...@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Scott Devine) writes:
>>How is fuming nitric acid made? I know it is a rocket fuel, but what goes
>>into its production and what companies make it?
>
>Fuming nitric acid (90% nitric acid or greater) can be made by vacuum
>distilling concentrated sulfuric acid and sodium nitrate. The vacuum of
Please NOTE: The fumes are NO2, which is called "one of the most insidious
poison gases" by the Merck Index. The lethal concentrations are very
very low. Stringent safety precautions are needed. Don't cut corners
on this one, or you might end up dead or permanantly lung scarred.
Public BBS System
>>How is fuming nitric acid made? I know it is a rocket fuel, but what goes
>>into its production and what companies make it?
>
>Fuming nitric acid (90% nitric acid or greater) can be made by vacuum
>distilling concentrated sulfuric acid and sodium nitrate. The vacuum of
>an aspirator is just fine. 685 grams sulfuric acid to 600 grams sodium
>nitrate is moderately boiled and in 20 minutes or so the above amounts
>should produce 300 ml pure nitric acid. The recieveing container is cooled
>by a surrounding bath of rubbing alcohol wetted dry ice.
>
>Source -- Home Workshop Explosives, by Uncle Fester, available from Loompanics
>Unlimited, book dealer.
>
100 % nitric acid can also be made by distilling a mixture of conc. nitric
acid and conc. sulfuric acid. Distillation can be performed at around 25
torr.