[Raster]

Hello fellow chemists! I've been working on this project for the matter of months now, trying to figure out the most effective way to make nitric acid, for gold refining process. Currently my method is bubbling nitrogen oxides through water, which I haven't been able to get the right quantity, and yield I need to refine gold effectively.

The chemicals that I've used in my projects were copper, hydrochloric acid, and potassium nitrate. Basic things I have available to me. And what I've been using as a cheep ghetto rig, has been cream soda bottles (clear glass) and tomato sauce jars for storing.

Now the first setup was just producing the NO from the chemicals stated above, and bubbling it through a glass pipette I made from a florescent lamp in an LCD that I found broken in the trash, in a bottle of distilled water. My yield was very very low, but it did react to copper, so I was making progress!

My next experiment involved a gas exchanger bottle from another cream soda bottle, I would pump the NO into the gas exchange, and I had a small fish tank bubbler to push air into the gas exchange to make NO2 before bubbling in the water. Now from what I've gathered this did not increase my yield by much, had a slightly higher yield from how the acid reacted with copper, but not by much at all.

To me, I'm not seeing Nitrogen Oxides and water process to be all that effective in a lab setting, probably only in a factory where they can have controlled temps, recycling processes for the lost oxides from the process and such, so I came to this forum to find a more effective way.

Now for the distillation method using sulfuric acid and a nitrate salt, I have not tried yet due to the lack of supplies (And I'd rather not spend $150 for an all glass distilling set)

What I came to ask is what is a more effective way of making nitric acid? Is there a way to make a distiller, that the supplies can be picked up at a hardware store?

I have a few ideas as to make a distiller, I will draw out the plans and post them ASAP for everyone to review.

[408]

The NO2 to nitric acid has been detailed online.  But you already have a nitrate salt, so just obtain some concentrated sulfuric acid from the hardware store, and distill it with your nitrate salt.

[nj_bartel]

They sell conc. sulfuric over the counter??  Are you in the US?

[Raster]

The NO2 to nitric acid has been detailed online.  But you already have a nitrate salt, so just obtain some concentrated sulfuric acid from the hardware store, and distill it with your nitrate salt.

Well I was looking more towards equipment that would withstand nitric acid, that I can buy at an hardware shop.

They sell conc. sulfuric over the counter??  Are you in the US?

And they don't sell concentrated sulfuric acid. But I heard some auto shops sell diluted sulfuric acid for batteries. But I have yet to find any.

[408]

Canada
I was told about this by Americans several years ago.  It is still available from what I have heard as industrial/contractor grade drain opener.
Look for the stuff in a plastic bag, similar to the way they carry 31% HCl