Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Re-Homing excess Nitric & Sulphuric Acid (NZ)

Redroy - 22-12-2013 at 18:05

I have ~2l of 68% HNO3 and 98% H2SO4 that I no longer require. Seeing if anyone in NZ, specifically around Hamilton wants it before I neutralise and dispose of it via other means.

Turner - 22-12-2013 at 18:07

Be sure of who you sell that to, that's a good amount of nitrating material there.

Mesa - 23-12-2013 at 01:27

Having never specifically studied nitration's in any capacity, I definitely could be mistaken. However, I was under the impression that the HNO3 had to be well into the 90+% concentrations in order for the nitronium(probably wrong name, I am referring to the wierd NO+ cation that is responsible for the nitration.) ion to be produced.

If its anywhere near as painfully difficult as concentrating H2SO4 to that purity I'd wish good luck to any 'kewl' deciding to buy this to blow something up;).


*FWOOSH* - 27-12-2013 at 12:00

If you mix 98% sulfuric and ~70% nitric the sulfuric will dehydrate and protonate the nitric, you just use more sulfuric than you would normally. You can also obtain concentrate nitric by mixing the 70% with concentrate sulfuric and distilling it out if I'm not mistaken. Similar to distilling nitric out of a nitrate salt and h2so4.

So yes, be a tad careful. :P

[Edited on 27-12-2013 by *FWOOSH*]

Pavlovsdog - 29-12-2013 at 14:25

How much do you want for your nitric acid

alexleyenda - 29-12-2013 at 14:36

Quote: Originally posted by Mesa  

If its anywhere near as painfully difficult as concentrating H2SO4 to that purity I'd wish good luck to any 'kewl' deciding to buy this to blow something up;).



How is H2SO4 hard to concentrate over 90%? At my knowledge all you have to do is boil it down until it fumes a lot, or even better until it reached H2SO4's boiling point if you have a good enough thermometer. Extremely dangerous yes, but difficult?

I think you are right Fwoosh but I doubt a "kewl" would have distillation glassware anyways :p

[Edited on 29-12-2013 by alexleyenda]

APO - 30-12-2013 at 20:45

You have to heat the sulfuric past 300 C, which unless you have a really good hot plate or heating mantle, that can be hard to do with much more than a couple milliliters.

vmelkon - 31-12-2013 at 03:15

Quote: Originally posted by APO  
You have to heat the sulfuric past 300 C, which unless you have a really good hot plate or heating mantle, that can be hard to do with much more than a couple milliliters.


You can use a flame from a bunsen burner or alcohol burner. Videos are on youtube. One guy told me he distilled 40 L of used battery acid and I think he said he ended up with 4 L. He doesn't know the conc but the stuff freezes during winter time.

Zyklon-A - 6-1-2014 at 13:25

How much for the nitric acid?

Redroy - 8-1-2014 at 19:40

I only want $10 - as long as someone finds it useful I'm happy for them to have it... I already have a buyer for these though.