Sciencemadness Discussion Board

NH4NO3 purification gone wrong

Emmasis - 31-8-2012 at 06:19

Hi everyone,
Here is what I did I started evaporating AN and distilled water
It was boiling away when I thought I might as well get rid of some other
Fertilizer that I have no use for: NPK 31-0-5.

I reached the right temperature and left it to crystallize
I checked on the next day and it was a heavy syrup, so I decided to evaporate some more (much lower temp) barely a simmer.
I let it come to room temp and stuck it in the freezer (really strong ammonia smell when I took it off the heat source) I checked it the next day and it was brown. At this point I left it outside to finish evaporation (4 days) checking every 4 hours now I have a substance that has the same characteristics of peanut butter.

I know the NPK was not a good idea but, what can I do to salvage this concentration gone wrong?

Thanks for your input

barley81 - 31-8-2012 at 11:30

Are you sure it's ammonium nitrate? That sounds like you have urea, which releases ammonia when heated.

Emmasis - 31-8-2012 at 13:19

No,
I am positive that it is AN

dasgoose21 - 31-8-2012 at 16:28

For some reason, the NH4NO3 decomposed and released ammonia gas, so you may as well through away that batch. Try again with this setup: First, Dissolute the Ammonium Nitrate fertilizer in some warm-hot water. NOT Boiling! It sounds like Whatever is in your fertilizer is causing the Ammonium Nitrate to Decomp on high heating. After this, filrate your solution to get rid of any undissolved materials. Next Try and air dry the Ammonium Nitrate solution, if that does not seem to be going fast enough, or the Ammonium Nitrate wants to stay in solution, Place solution in a desicator bag to dry the chemical. If you want further purification, dissolve the left over ammonium nitrate in some Methanol and try and create a saturated solution. Once you have done that, filter this solution and put in freezer. Then Collect the crystals from bottom of your container after a couple hours in the freezer. This hould be relatively pure Ammonium Nitrate.

Emmasis - 1-9-2012 at 11:37

THANK YOU!!!
Quote: Originally posted by dasgoose21  
For some reason, the NH4NO3 decomposed and released ammonia gas, so you may as well through away that batch. Try again with this setup: First, Dissolute the Ammonium Nitrate fertilizer in some warm-hot water. NOT Boiling! It sounds like Whatever is in your fertilizer is causing the Ammonium Nitrate to Decomp on high heating. After this, filrate your solution to get rid of any undissolved materials. Next Try and air dry the Ammonium Nitrate solution, if that does not seem to be going fast enough, or the Ammonium Nitrate wants to stay in solution, Place solution in a desicator bag to dry the chemical. If you want further purification, dissolve the left over ammonium nitrate in some Methanol and try and create a saturated solution. Once you have done that, filter this solution and put in freezer. Then Collect the crystals from bottom of your container after a couple hours in the freezer. This hould be relatively pure Ammonium Nitrate.