[dudeman]

I have done the old tried and true method of melting sodium nitrate and then dissolving lead metal into said molten sodium nitrate. It reacted leaving behind a brown colored gel that solidified once it was allowed to cool. I extracted with water and decanted off the extract leaving behind some brown solid with a few specs of lead. I boiled the water down till there was precipitate then turned off heat and added water till precipitate went away. It is currently crystallizing. My question to you guys is this.

How do I purify the sodium nitrite to 99% pure?

EDIT*

Dude man just found this at 10:51 at sciencemadness forums...

"""Purification of NaNO2 can be achieved by making some isopropyl nitrite with it (nitrate doesn't react here), isolating and purifying the ester and saponifying it by refluxing with alcoholic NaOH solution. NaNO2 separates right out, as its solubility in alcohol is small (3g/100ml in anhydrous ethanol)."""