Making Nitric Acid

Quick video of making nitric acid via simple distillation from
potassium nitrate and sulfuric acid. goes off without a problem except minor decomposition from to high heating.
I do want to re-distill with extra sulfuric under vacuum to get 99-100% pure acid or at least as far as it can be taken that way.
I also want to do another cleaning video in which the acid is scrubbed with dry air under mild heating but we will see.
Music: I Am Running Down the Long Hallway of Viewmont Elementary by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommon...)
Source: chriszabriskie....
Artist: chriszabriskie....

[@vivekkumarsingh4226]

👍👍👍👍 good job. I really appreciate your work. In my country 68% nitric acid is very cheap roughly $3 per liter which can easily be concentrated using 98% sulphuric acid.

[@alaric_]

where i live it's 26$ per 500ml. transportation (as dangerous chemical) adds about another 25$ per delivery. damn im envy :)

[@vivekkumarsingh4226]

Alaric Balthi bad luck. Chemicals are very cheap in my country sulphuric acid 96% $1.5 per liter, sodium hydroxide $1 per kilogram , hydrofluoric acid $10 per liter, hydrochloric acid 2 liter for $1. Ammonia 25% solution $1 per liter

[@vivekkumarsingh4226]

Alaric Balthi where do u live??

[@alaric_]

Phew, those would never be sold so cheaply in finland. Small population and extremely tight regulations prohibit buying almost any usefull chemicals. Btw, that nitric acid requires buying permit from police, as does many others. Companies are excempt from this but it's not helping the citizens. Yep, finland is tight as shit in about anything. Yes, it's pretty safe and stable living place but the amount of control.....

[@vivekkumarsingh4226]

Alaric Balthi In my country selling mineral acids to public is banned but still anyone can buy them easily at lowest price possible

[@MadScientist72]

I've done this experiment before, and I remember it VIVIDLY. I was using a "makeshift fume hood" with a greenhouse blower fan and a cardboard box. I thought that my apparatus was sealed properly, however after the reddish nitrogen dioxide started being produced, I started smelling it inside the room. SCARED THE S*%T out of me!!! One of the very few times when I was actually scared after doing a chemistry experiment! ( I have a chemical respirator, but still....)

[@smudgepost]

I like this process as you can make nitrocellulose and save the nitric acid in one go!

[@karolus28]

Does anyone know the title of the song? The one in the description doesn't seem to be the one.

[@philipbender956]

Thanks, I was going to ask if you would do this :0) Will you also show us how to make concentrated sulfuric acid 98%, HCL 39% and 100% ethanol (Dry)?

[@vivekkumarsingh4226]

Philip Bender it's better to buy liquid drain opener which is impure sulphuric acid.

[@vivekkumarsingh4226]

Philip Bender you can easily purify it. If you still want to make it try sulphur dioxide +hydrogen peroxide metbody

[@vivekkumarsingh4226]

Philip Bender method

[@philipbender956]

If you purify sulfuric acid with that method you're just adding more water with the hydrogen peroxide. I want to see I am Diablo's take on how to concentrate sulfuric acid. I know multiple other KZbinrs have concentrated sulfuric acid. I use KZbin as a learning tool plus it's awesome to have a catalog of multiple people preforming the same experiment.

[@vivekkumarsingh4226]

Philip Bender you can easily remove water from sulphuric acid by boiling it till no water vapour comes out as there is a large temperature difference between the boiling point of water and sulphuric acid. I guess it's (330C) for sulphuric acid.

[@mada90x]

Omg that music

[@cditzler6313]

did mine all wrong I guess it foamed up and into distiller and over to the holding flask big cleaning day tomorrow why so much foam

[@markharder3676]

Is this a vacuum distillation? I don't recall you stating that, yet I see an outlet hose on the collector.

[@AllChemystery]

No vacuum was applied, the hose was to direct fumes away from the labspace. In order to distill HNO3 you need a very expensive PTFE lined vacuum... Or some kind of Cold Trap setup.

[@SilverMac47]

What temp do you set your burner to

[@pcgeneral]

I think it us less than 200°C

[@arved-6939]

Why didn't you use sulfuric acid to grease the joints?

[@chemlab5038]

It won’t get destroyed buy the fumes and as you know it like an oil so ya👍

[@lovishmonga1378]

The temp was above 200 or below

[@clawdeenwolf1327]

Below

[@kingkeough100]

What temperature did you have to heat it at ?

[@MathewZ788]

I am pretty sure the first for 100 c And after the first distillate that is water came over he cracked up the heat to 120 c

[@cipofly]

the first part of disstillation is no good , its good when clear . (sorry for my bad english) .

[@808ghurricane6]

you might not want to use metal clamps

[@karolus28]

@@alienrocketscienceshared8454 but doesn't fuming nitric acid boils at like 80 or 90 C?

[@khosroansary9493]

Hi when do you want to test it?

[@farisfaris7177]

super Sir

[@julim3889]

I have 75% sulfuric acid. Would this also work?

[@AllChemystery]

BiG ᗷOSS Agar.io yes that will work but you will get a more diluted acid. You could add enough extra water to get 68% azeotropic acid.

[@julim3889]

Ok thanks (:

[@shahyarexperiments9082]

@@AllChemystery hello did you control it at 83 degrees? and you should block the light

[@user-ed8jx5js5e]

Can I use a charcoal as a boiling stone ?

[@AllChemystery]

No it probably wouldn’t work. It’s likely to be attacked by the acid

[@karolus28]

you can use broken glass or pieces of a clay pot

[@krystianprawy6708]

@@AllChemystery with 98% H2SO4 and perfectly dry KNO3 it is possible to obtain 98 or 99% HNO3? Ps: Will you still post videos to KZbin?

[@chemistryofquestionablequa6252]

@@krystianprawy6708 yes, you can get the purity really high if you use really dry precursors.

[@shermdeazy]

Doesnt concentrated nitric catch rubber gloves on fire?

[@maxnye5693]

Concentrated nitric acid doesn't immediately catch them on fire, but it can weaken them. Red fuming nitric acid will catch them on fire and dissolve them quickly though.

[@MathewZ788]

That nitric acid isnt even that concentrated like he claims it is the azeotropic value which would allow distillation to make its concentration is somewhere around 68% still not bad

[@MathewZ788]

@@alienrocketscienceshared8454 then why did he himself say there was an azeotropic value? Just asking

[@MathewZ788]

@@alienrocketscienceshared8454 oh yea i guess you are right dude, thanks for correcting me. Not being sarcastic

[@MathewZ788]

@@alienrocketscienceshared8454 we have the same name btw haha

[@BeastM140i]

Heh, your boiling stones look like teeth. I might give this a go over the weekend

[@AllChemystery]

Yeah they kinda do lol. I got them from a brewers supply joint for a couple of dollars a pack. Surprisingly they held up ok in their he boiling acid. Have you never done a nitric acid distillation before?

[@BeastM140i]

@@AllChemystery yeah I’ve done it before. I got new glassware last week; need to try it out. I’ve done heaps of different distillations before, phenol was my most annoying one

[@AllChemystery]

@@BeastM140i did u import it from China? Like off eBay? If so you can probably expect a visit from the police.. they often check out glassware imports- I’ve had a couple of visits and had my lab thoroughly searched . Reason was glass imports.

[@BeastM140i]

@@AllChemystery nah, I never import. Got this from a local chemistry supplier. I am completely legit, even have a license and diploma in lab techniques. Even I’ll finish my bachelor too. I want to avoid the police visit, though

[@BeastM140i]

@@AllChemystery it costs more, but it’s nicer quality too

[@nattsurfaren]

How to go from potassium sulfate to sulfuric acid?

[@KleinLuzi]

literally add any other acid (id chose hcl) and after reaction, distill off the access hcl, so the sulfiric acid stays behind in the reaction vessle.

[@nattsurfaren]

@@KleinLuzi Thanks. I verified what you said and the formula is: HCl + K2SO4 = H2SO4 + KCl

[@KleinLuzi]

@@nattsurfaren no problem. After you have distilled off the HCL you would most likely have to distill the sulfiric acid as well since you would otherwhise have potassium chloride dissolved in sulfiric acid. But be very careful when distilling sulfiric acid, definetely take safety mesures.

[@lagrangiankid378]

​@@nattsurfarenThis won't work as, despite the fact that hydrogen chloride is a stronger proton donor, as both hydrogen chloride and sulfate are highly soluble in water. If you boil off the hydrogen chloride and water you just get your potassium sulfate back. You can use oxalic acid which makes insoluble potassium oxalate precipitate out of solution and then you can filter and distill off sulfuric acid but is it not very efficient. Alternatively you can use electrolysis to potassium hydroxide and sulfuric acid or dry distillation at 600+°C of sulfate to sulfur oxides which can be bubbled into water or hydrogen peroxide to get sulfuric acid solution. All these methods will give you diluted sulfuric acid which needs to be concentrated and distilled first. It's better to just buy directly sulfuric acid which is often sold as battery acid or drain cleaner.

[@lawrencecole6527]

Everything I was taught said add powders to liquids and not the opposite.

[@BeastM140i]

Always add liquids to powders. That way the powders don’t get wet and stick to the glassware

[@jakewaitze5104]

Thank you, What sound track was used in this?

[@AllChemystery]

Jake Waitze it's called I am running down the long hallways of viewmont elementary. Strange title. It's in the description of the video

[@jakewaitze5104]

Much appreciated!

[@jakewaitze5104]

Sorry, as it turns out I don't think that's the song

[@jakewaitze5104]

Just an update - I located the song! Just wanted to let you know in case you cared for the correction (some 4 months later). It's called "Far the Days Come / Letter Box"

[@BeastM140i]

@@jakewaitze5104 thank you so much

[@quantumlab9130]

I have a question about the grease you used on the joints, I have Dow Corning high vacuum grease, It is silicone based. Would it be adequate for the job?

[@charlesbrust5779]

HV Lab 8

[@randombytes8311]

You also can use sulfiric acid for the joints while destilling HNO3

[@matthiascarroll1924]

Quantum Lab that is what I use for the joints, very few procedures I know of require sulfuric acid in its stead.

[@bijibocil5766]

ETN here I come!! 💀💀💀

[@Tigris_River_Sand_Fleas]

ETN + Drone = Kamikazeee!!!

[@kripashankartiwari6180]

Are you indian

[@AllChemystery]

Noi speak English

[@Cubezisahuman78]

100th comment

[@Lucas-vo5ib]

how to transform 100% nitric acid to 70%

[@MathewZ788]

Dissolve it with water duh?