Nitric acid without Sulfuric acid (bisulfate method) 

I need a better username always yeah, hit me

1. Keep that distillation away from the sun, light catalyzes HNO3 decomposition, especially when gaseous. 2. Put some sodium persulfate in receiver flask, it will ox. NOx to extra HNO3 and absorb water contamination (you'll have to redistill but it will make high quality WFNA, maybe even with some N2O5) 3. Place the receiver flask straight vertically and put a piece of PTFE tube on receiving adapter so it dips into distilled acid. 4. Keep the receiving flask cool (wet rags and a fan should cool it enough by evaporation) 5. You can prevent suckback by putting a narrow strip of paper under the cork (place it vertically) after you stop heating this will make the system non-airtight.

6. Sodium potassium nitrate eutectic has a melting point of only 220 C. www.archimedesolarenergy.it/images/molten/molten1.gif It's prepared by mixing 55g KNO3 and 45g NaNO3, heating in a pot until fully liquid, cooling and pulverizing it. (if you stir rapidly while it's cooling it forms nice lumps) Also, have you tried asking for battery acid at a car repair shop? Reply if you have any questions or comments.

I need a better username I've pinned this comment because these are all very good points. The best improvement definitely would be to put the receiver flask on ice and keep it cool. The sunlight is definitely a factor too, it's easy to cover it up with some foil. Given the amount of NOx that comes over from the distillation anyway, I wonder if you're really helping, like you might make 5% less NOx, but yeah no effort to cover it up. Very interesting thought about the persulfate. I usually use Urea to clear up my RFNA but I do have lots of ammonium persulfate I bought years ago that I don't often use, so I'll look into that!

I need a better username I have 3L of 50% sulfuric so I'm set in that regard. Years ago I did ask and they actually did give me about 800ml of 30% sulphuric, which I concentrated. Years ago though, a lot has changed since then and I look a lot less cute and harmless now than I did haha Not sure making a nitrate eutectic will help a lot, it's an interesting thought. A bisulfate eutectic would probably work though, I feel that if the acid (bisulfate) is molten without the nitrate melting, it might work. But you could be right. Lowering the temperature would be a drastic improvement to the method

Your parents probably still look at you with the same inspiration

@@n0username0n I think they are amused now days.

@@n0username0n the great thing about these videos is seeing the stuff that doesn't work. Much more real than a lot of other channels that never show what happens in real life.

@n0username0n Your parents probably look at you and wonder why you need to insult others to feel better about yourself.

Yes, it is a shame that this has happened. I fear much of the world will follow Austria's example in the coming years

Or you have to get your chemicals from Poland / czech republic, wich is also very risky because of the police on the borders... I know your struggle and I feel exactly the same :(

Yes a lot has changed very quickly, the modern world is becoming so shaped by our fear of terrorism. It changes public perception too, so yes you do end up feeling like a criminal when you're not even doing anything wrong

I have a shipment of chemicals from Poland on the way! I few odd things, including the most expensive chemical i've bought, both in terms of total money spent and price per gram... i'm excited!

Drakkar Calethiel doesn't shop.es-drei.de or apcpure.com ship to Austria?

TheBackyardChemist that's a good thought. I'm not sure how much it would actually decompose, but it hardly takes any effort to wrap some aluminium foil around the flask and avoid the issue completely yeah

Niclas thanks man! No matter the laws, we will always adapt and overcome to do interesting science at home

conc. sulphuric is videly available, quite pure for drain cleaning..at least in CZ and it is not prohibited by EU regulations, nitrates of all sorts are available as well as all perchlorates except K and Na, diluted peroxide is still available

Well, not in EU then, but it's prohibited in Sweden. Enjoy your freedom to buy chemicals while it lasts. My bet is that it won't be long before you have the same, stricter regulations as we have in Sweden. Diluted H2O2 is available here, and I can get KNO3. But no Ammonium nitrate or perchlorates.

Niclas as far as I see it, EU regulations are much more liberal than Australian regulations and even US in some cases (iodine, red phosphorus are readily available in the EU but not in US). We can even buy stuff like methylamine HCl here or other amines. A relatively near by paint shop even sells 30% H2O2. EU regulations are quite restrictive about chemicals in OTC products (no DCM in paint stripper and low ethylene glycol content in antifreeze for example), but if you order from chemical suppliers online (totally legal, with forms and ID) you can get quite a lot of stuff. Most things are pretty affordable as well.

@@nehorlavazapalka Czech republic is one of the last bastions of freedom in the Euro-zone.

piranha031091 yeah rubber does not like acid vapours. In fact most stuff doesn't like acid vapours... So the Teflon tubing is good in that regard, but only that regard

@@ExtractionsAndIre I know a few washed up hippies that would disagree with that point.

Jeff Harold Good to see you around still too mate! I'm always keeping an eye out yeah. For sulfuric, I managed to source some 50% acid through a friend for a couple dollars per litre, I just have to distill it which is a bit of a pain. And yes, nothing else can seal the Teflon tubes like that except the parrafilm! Tape doesn't stick, so it's perfect! Appreciate it mate

I haven't actually tried but, I think so. It theoretically checks out

Daniel Matthews maybeee... Although not sure it would help in this case, given its a thick molten salt mass, but perhaps it's worth trying because it's definitely the worst part of this reaction

Here in the states they sell NaHSO4 as the monohydrate

Then you wont get anhydrous acid coming over... but the lower temp would make it run a lot nicer I think, until maybe all the water boiled off? Not sure exactly how that would play out, maybe something to test, cool thinking

Yeah it's usually a very important part of the video to show the final product... But yeah it really pissed me off haha. i get roughly 15ml out of it at this scale.

Lol, you and me both. It's what, 8 bucks for a liter here?

For small amounts it is still far cheaper and easier to generate HNO3 on location, after shipping charges one bottle from duda is half the cost of a basic distillation kit. I'm stuck in a spot where I just need a few grams of silver nitrate but every where I look I end up with a minimum of $60 invested (cost of 25g AgNO3 of uncertain quality on amazon, double that for a supplier of known quality like sigma.) when the raw materials for 25g would cost me $15 if I had a distillation setup, but buying the complete apparatus is over $100 even with the questionable cheap stuff from china. (only $15 because I already use sulfuric acid and KNO3 around the farm so there is no waste, all I need then is fine silver at $20 per troy ounce, $0.67per gram or $11 for 25g of AgNO3, though I really only need a couple grams. The lowest cost smallest amount of ready made HNO3 is however over $80 after shipping.)

The yellow skin colour really is quite sickly isn't it. I've been hit by droplets a few times, it's never been a big enough amount of acid to actually hurt or even feel it, but it does make those yellow stains. The worst is when it hits your fingernails, because it stains them and it takes so long for your nails to grow enough to move the stains off the edge, your skin replaces itself so quickly

Lab supply stores in most countries sell reagents only to registered labs. So if you don't have the paper you must acquire it from online suppliers which 1) tend to ask the same questions as the normal lab supply stores (not everyone of them, I managed to buy my nitric acid online) and 2) they can often get the police knocking at your door if you buy too much. In addition lab suppliers only sell azeotropic nitric acid, but for a lot of applications (ahem, explosives) you need RFNA which is obtainable only by the reaction between H2SO4 and KNO3.

Gordon Freeman here in Mexico you can get 99% sulfuric acid at only $ 6 per liter. Ironically it is more expensive to buy drain cleaner than concentrated sulfuric acid

Pretty sure you would just distill water and not have any product because we are starting with a weak acid and a strong acid salt. For example you can distill HI from KI and H3PO4 which would absolutely not happen in an aq solution

Uliemm151 oh yes I forgot to mention! I do do that sometimes, it does help yes. Good thinking

Ya but the problem is it isn't sold in a good unit of measurement so it's practically worthless

(i'm salty because i'm jealous)

Personally I hate imperial measurements, but it's what they're selling so it's what I'm buying :P oddly enough though, nitrates are becoming rather difficult to find for me, even online. Fireworkscookbook.com is one of the few places I can still get KNO3 for a reasonable price

Where are you from that you can get sulfuric acid $24/gallon? I can only get it at $25/2.5 liters

What country? I am packing my bags already :)

science_and_anonymous yeah the efficiency is lower, but it's better than none at all I guess!!

Hahahah you fcking serious? ,

It is boring times we live in, difficult for hobbyists.

Point being Kno3 is everywhere. I get into model rockets and buy by the kilo for under $20 👍

And fck the watch lists! For god sake they know EVERYTHING we do! We're not doing anything illegal so fck em 😅😅😅

John C this is a good conspiracy, I could get behind this

I see all the chemistry videos and I believe it to be true.

John C I mean it's nearly believable... Ok if it's confirmed as true, I'll send you $20 AUD but if it's false you have to say I'm right and be my friend, how are we feeling those odds?

I am from USA and I love Australia. You have so much talent over there. I am a Electrical Engineer and Chemist. I like EEVblog and MakerMuse all Australians. And as far as the cinema here in USA Nicole kidman, Niami Watts and Mel Gibson etc all Australians. I am not a betting man but just throwing out a gut feeling. BTW NileRed is canadian. Now if I can only figure out my favorite chemistry channel CHEMPLAYER.

By meth cooks I don't mean you, to be clear. I meant that's the reason for the difficulty, at least one of them, them and the terrorists

David Rissanen the meth cooks are the ones with the money though, I'm sure they don't care it's expensive given the profit they can turn! I don't know who is to blame but it no good

Darian Berg so you wrap the joints in Teflon tape?

you can buy sleeves made of teflon

it does lmao but distillation is to separate it idiot.

Agreed. It was high-vacuum oil, but it wasn't the super expensive completely-fluoridated stuff. You're right that the school don't have the PFTE one, I used the grease that we used all through the labs in university, and its good for most things except real extreme conditions like conc nitric. I've been thinking of buying some of the good shit for a while, but it is hard to justify the large upfront cost for it. Maybe when I get a real job haha

You pretty much just used it once on the sealing surfaces and it will then be there for a long time. Since it does not react to anything you dont need to take it of and put new on all the time and thus a small tube will last a long time.

Sure, it will last a really long time, still doesn't mean I can afford it :P Assuming it isn't sold in 10ml tubes. That would be more practical for me

I of course didnt meant in that way, just that its dam good since it can stay on for a long time even when doing other chemical things which is really neat.

winnerandloser yo to poznám😂😂😂I feel sorry for people not living in the wild east of slavic countries

I mean building a spark gap high voltage thing that creates nitric acid from nitrogen in the air is a great solution. I have enough nitrates that I probably won't do that here though, and I'm notoriously bad at electronics projects

@@ExtractionsAndIre yeah i saw Codys lab spark thing. I was trying to avoid high voltage. Unless a bunch of spark plugs work ? 🤔

No idea. High voltage is pretty dang frightening

Yeah... I was once trying to make KMnO4 out of "rubbish" as a sort of modern-day "alchemy" project but the piss/manure combination for KNO3 put me off too.

Don't take everything you read off of wikipedia at face value, sometimes important info is left out dude. It's misinformation to call it "melting" when really the salt just dissolves in it's own water. If you look online the dehydration temperature is listed at 58°C for sodium bisulfate monohydrate. Essentially it just farts off water above that point. In another way, if it did work that would introduce water into the system and it wouldn't be fuming nitric acid anymore. Hope that helps

Spooky Wizard Actually, the monohydrate would be preferable for most of us, since most of us want to make 68% HNO3. On the other hand, if your procedure actually requires fuming HNO3, you would definitely want to use anhydrous sodium bisulfite. I’m just saying this because most of us want to make 68%.

I realize, on slightly more thought, that if the connection wasn't perfect on the teflon tubing and any acid escaped you'd end up with what I can chemically describe as a rubberized hellmass,, massively limiting the chance this is useful as an idea.

I mean ideally it should be 99% too, just because there's no water in the reaction flask to distil over with the nitric. I've never done a titration actually, but i've used this as RFNA for the last few years without it acting like it wasn't RFNA. It doesn't quite set nitrile gloves on fire, but it definitely smoulders them, a sign that it is very concentrated but perhaps could do with another distillation over sulfuric acid to really achieve that 100% nitric acid target

Thanks for that I was planning to buy sodium bisulfate in the near future weighing on a maybe but your corroboration made me dig my heels in further and now I'll take a rain check on it though my query was I currently own drain opener acid can that be used to acquire fuming nitric acid?

Hypnotic Moai one tap = one yield

electrotoxins congrats. What school do you go to and where?

Erwin Rommel, Everett Community College in America, it's not the best college out there but I'm getting it for free through a program called Running Start where you move straight from being a sophomore to your first year at college.

electrotoxins Regardless of what school you go to the main point is that you're getting an education which makes you more employable. If you have a passion for Chem then keep perusing it and don't get discouraged. It pays off. I'm a Chem student the University of Toronto.

Erwin Rommel, thanks for the encouragement! Channels like NileRed, codyslab and e&f got me into chemistry and I've enjoyed it ever since.

Good work man, that's a good score for sure!