Emmasis
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NH4NO3 purification gone wrong
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
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barley81
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Are you sure it's ammonium nitrate? That sounds like you have urea, which releases ammonia when heated.
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Emmasis
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No,
I am positive that it is AN
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dasgoose21
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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.
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Emmasis
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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. |
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