Aluminum-Based Oxidation of Sodium Nitrate: A Simple Approach for Acquiring Sodium Nitrite (SN)
a_user et al, 2023
This study explores a practical and safe method to produce sodium nitrite (SN), a chemical compound with diverse applications, by oxidizing aluminum with sodium nitrate. Amid increasing restrictions on SN due to safety issues, this method ensures accessibility to SN for legitimate uses. The experiment involves heating a mixture of sodium nitrate and aluminum, followed by dissolution, filtration, and re-heating, resulting in the production of SN. The project emphasizes the significance of maintaining access to SN for various crucial applications, offering a straightforward approach that can be safely conducted using common materials and equipment.
Background
Sodium nitRITE (NaNO2, hereafter abbreviated to SN) is a chemical compound that has been widely used in various industries and applications due to its unique properties. While its usage has become restricted in some jurisdictions due to safety concerns, such as the recent increase in popularity of SN being used for suicide, it is important to recognize the value and necessity of making SN accessible to individuals.
SN has a range of legitimate and essential applications across various sectors. It is crucial for food manufacturers as a food additive, ensuring food safety, extending shelf life, and maintaining quality in processed meats. In medicine, it plays a vital role in treating cyanide poisoning and methemoglobinemia. SN is also valuable in industrial settings, where it is used in manufacturing dyes, pigments, corrosion inhibitors, and rust prevention. Additionally, it contributes to agricultural and horticultural practices by serving as a nitrogen source in fertilizers and controlling pests. By allowing accessibility to sodium nitrite, individuals, such as amateur chemists and chefs, can an extremely enjoyable time working with SN safely. It is of my opinion that the prohibition of the distribution of SN is completely irrational for many reasons, of one being how easy it is to make out of non-restricted substances.
Note
TALLman lettering is employed throughout the article to prevent the confusion between sodium nitRITE and sodium nitRATE (mostly for myself so I don't get confused). In addition, the abbreviation, SN is employed solely for sodium nitRITE, and never used for sodium nitRATE. In addition, the discussion of whether
if sodium nitRITE
should be restricted, and whether if individuals have the right to a
fast and peaceful exit is out of scope for this article for legal reasons. Nevertheless, it is critical that we understand that there are numerous indisputably legitimate and essential private uses of SN, and therefore, access to SN should be maintained.
The method utilized in this project has been determined by the results of
this poll.
This article is split to two sections. First being a tested method of creating sodium nitRITE with aluminium and sodium nitRATE. The second is an untested method of extracting sodium nitRITE using curing salts based on solubility of SN and sodium chloride (table salt). This untested method will be posted in a comment after the publication of this article.
Goals
The goals of this experiment is to determine whether if it is possible to reliably oxidize aluminium with sodium nitRATE to create aluminium oxide and sodium nitRITE.
Reaction
3 NaNO3 + 2 Al ⟶ Al2 O3 + 3 NaNO2
Materials and Equipment
If you need help finding anything, let me know via a private message! If you want to substitute since you can't get something, feel free to send a comment and I can let you know if it would work!
1. Hot plate or other heating device like a stove (household is fine) or a bunsen burner
2. Good thermometer if you are not using a hot plate (Amazon carries those, you don't need one if you can make sure everything is under 300C)
3. Sodium nitRATE - 2-3x more than you want the product (SN) be, if you're confident you won't mess up.
4. Aluminium (Household foil is good enough. Be sure you didn't accidentally buy tin foil! Buy the cheapest ones your place sells since that is less likely to be contaminated - get two rolls just in case. Powder preferred!)
5. PPE
- Fume hood (preferred) or googles and N95+ mask if you don't want to breath in smelly fumes
- Gloves (Disposable)
- Lab coat if you have one on hand
6. Very clean water (distilled only! Make sure it has 0 added minerals. Reverse osmosis is NOT good. Tap water is NOT good. Regular household boiled water is NOT good. You can buy distilled water from any pharmacy or grocery store).
7. Borosilicate beakers or pans that you won't use after this.
8. Sodium nitrITE test strips (You can buy these from any pet shop)
9. Coffee filter/paper
Procedure
BEFORE STARTING ANY PROCEDURE, PUT ON PPE!
1. Sanitize all equipment. If you are using a pan, there can be absolutely NO oil on it!
2. Shred lots of aluminium foil (0.25 the mass of the amount of sodium nitRATE you are using as the reactants)
3. Pour out sodium nitRATE (approx 2x the amount of sodium nitRITE you want to make).
4. Mix the sodium nitRATE with the aluminium in a beaker or pan. Mix it well!
5. Heat everything up. Keep it below 300C or else the SN could disintegrate! Heat it for 1 hour.
6. Once it is heated for one hour, add water to the container SLOWLY. Wait until all the powder is dissolved. Test the solution with the test paper to see if the amount of sodium nitRITE is satisfactory. If it is, stop to step 14.
7. Filter the solution though the coffee filter. Make sure only liquids pass through.
8. Boil the liquid and dispose of the filter and the stuff in it as household waste.
9. Once the liquid is boiled, add as little water as possible for everything in it to dissolve.
10. Use more aluminium foil to make a "box" with open top.
11. Put the liquid solution you have made in step 9 into the "box" and then scrunch up the "box", making sure that all the powder stays inside the "box". Make everything tight (not too tight. (If you need more explanation, drop a comment)
12. Heat up the scrunched up aluminium foil with the powder inside for 1 hour at less than 300C.
13. Skip to step 6 and repeat.
14. Filter the solution through the coffee filter, and then boil off the solution.
15. After boiling off the solution, you should be left with a powder. That powder should be sodium nitRITE!
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to send a comment below! I don't bite~
Disposal
Heat sodium nitRITE to 400C for sodium nitRITE to be decomposed to harmless chemicals. Then dispose in household rubbish. DO NOT dispose sodium nitRITE in household rubbish without decomposing first!
Testing
As of May 14, 2023, the SN produced as a part of this experiment has not yet been quantified. However, we plan to test the substance with FTIR spectrometry in the coming weeks. We will comment on this thread once the results are made available to us.
Images
We will add images in the near future!
Bonus: How to extract SN from curing salts - two methods:
Method 1: Solubility
Method 2: Melting
Now we learned how to make SN. Hmm. Thoughts on making a guide for making something nicer, like N? Comment below on what you want to see!