Refining your nitrate

[HWooldridge]

I buy KNO3 in prilled form, which is advertised at 99.8% purity - but in the interest of eking out that last little bit of efficiency, I recently ran a batch of it through a boil and precipitation cycle using distilled water in the pot. It was pretty easy to do and I reclaimed all but about a tablespoon of solids from the 3 lbs I started with. However, my cynical nature tends to think it’s a waste of time to attempt wringing out that last .2%.

Does anyone else refine your nitrate if it’s already fairly pure, and at what percentage does it become a worthless exercise?

[LAGS]

I do refine any stump remover stuff.
It is fairly pure to start with.
But when I recrystallize it by boiling it, then I am sure that it is basically uniform in its consistency.
Yes.
It is an extra step that really isn't needed for that small amount of impurities.
But if you ever have a bad batch of powder , you can be sure that the KN03 was not the issue.
But if you are using Pure " Scientific " materials.
Then you don't have to do things like this.
The same thing applies to using Garden Sulfur instead of Pure Sulfer

[HWooldridge]

LAGS,

I always buy the so-called “pure” chemicals, so I think any gains will be incremental. One thing the Mad Monk files stated is that prilled nitrate usually contains a small amount of clay, which is used as a binder, so maybe refining removes those other minerals.

HW

[rancher1913]

i made my own from chicken manure ONE time, hopefully never need to do that again. for what i do, the stump remover is good enough.

[Boerrancher]

i made my own from chicken manure ONE time, hopefully never need to do that again. for what i do, the stump remover is good enough.

There was one time in my past that we had to improvise in an undisclosed location, and mix a bit of chicken manure with some diesel fuel and a blasting cap, actually it was not me personally it was SGT Franks the powder monkey on the team, but anyway it wasn’t a huge boom but it was enough of a deterrent to slow down our pursuers and give us some breathing room. I tried to search how to make nitrate from manure, but didn’t find anything. If you could be so kind as to point me in the direction of how to do this I would greatly appreciate it.

[rancher1913]

it was 30 years ago so memory is not the best, basically i built a tank to boil the manure, it had 3 valves at different heights so i could draw off the correct layer. filter it through wood ash and let the solution dry. lots more to it but that was the basics, way more trouble than it was worth unless you were desperate.

[Swineherd]

You can just boil the manure and nitrate rich soil in a pot of water with wood ash. Filter the sediment while the water is hot. You can boil off the remaining water, or if you prefer, chilling the water greatly inhibits the ability of the potassium nitrate to remain in solution and it will quickly crystalize. You can just pour the remaining water off the crystals.

[Nobade]

I believe they talk about that in one of the Foxfire books. It's been a long time since I read those.

[armoredman]

"Whadcha make this here powder out of?"
"Chicken poop."

[Boerrancher]

"Whadcha make this here powder out of?"
"Chicken poop."

Anything high in nitrates. At one point there was a nitrate shortage so the king of England ordered everyone to have and urinate in a straw pile. Over a period of months the KNO3 starts to form visible crystals on the straw. Once this happened the straw was collected and boiled. The hot liquid was then boiled down and allowed to cool leaving pure KNO3.

[dondiego]

I am reading a book about naval engagements in the 1780-1790's between England, France, and Spain and one of the ships captured another one and it was carrying tons of black powder for their cannon. Where did they get all of that potassium nitrate back then? They talked of getting "brimstone" (sulfur) from the volcano rims but England was running low on charcoal due to over-harvesting of the wood on the island. Tons of black powder would require tons of potassium nitrate as well.

[Nobade]

I don't know about England but around here bat caves were a strategic resource to be treasured. Probably there also.

[TurnipEaterDown]

I remember that there was an island, in the Pacific I think, that supported an enormous bird population, and when discovered it was either a European country or the US that laid claim to it - and it was for powder manufacture. I think it was the US. Don't recall the island name, some entertainment w/ a internet search tool would turn it up I am sure.
Guanadine I think is the chemical in bat poop (maybe bird) that supplies the powder making process.

[2TM101]

"Whadcha make this here powder out of?""Chicken poop."

Well considering my Charcoal comes from toilet paper now, it fits.

But making potassium nitrate that way is really slow and the "boiling manure" part will dissuade most people, myself included. I got a 5 gallon drum of it from "Seed World" and am convinced someone will inherit most of it.

[LAGS]

Bat Poop is one of the powders used in vehicle Air Bags.
I can't remember what it was called.
But one of my old girlfriends use to build air bags around here.
I think it was called Guanno.
But I can be wrong, cause it has been so many years ago.

[indian joe]

Bat Poop is one of the powders used in vehicle Air Bags.
I can't remember what it was called.
But one of my old girlfriends use to build air bags around here.
I think it was called Guanno.
But I can be wrong, cause it has been so many years ago.

Guano - where I travel is used by organic farmers as a phosphorus source - yes some Nitrogen in there as well - these are old deposits - thousands of years of birds pooping - over time the Nitrate tends to leach out and leave behind Calcium phosphate - fresher works the better for nitrate.

[elmacgyver0]

I think I will just stay with buying my black powder.

[indian joe]

I buy KNO3 in prilled form, which is advertised at 99.8% purity - but in the interest of eking out that last little bit of efficiency, I recently ran a batch of it through a boil and precipitation cycle using distilled water in the pot. It was pretty easy to do and I reclaimed all but about a tablespoon of solids from the 3 lbs I started with. However, my cynical nature tends to think it’s a waste of time to attempt wringing out that last .2%.

Does anyone else refine your nitrate if it’s already fairly pure, and at what percentage does it become a worthless exercise?

I get Greenhouse Grade soluble - put it through a fairly fine kitchen strainer - always a little bit of odd looking stuff comes out = grains that are a slight different colour and a little bigger - that goes on the garden - I will pas on that last .2% if re manufacturing the nitrate is required

[RoyEllis]

There was one time in my past that we had to improvise in an undisclosed location, and mix a bit of chicken manure with some diesel fuel and a blasting cap, actually it was not me personally it was SGT Franks the powder monkey on the team, but anyway it wasn’t a huge boom but it was enough of a deterrent to slow down our pursuers and give us some breathing room. I tried to search how to make nitrate from manure, but didn’t find anything. If you could be so kind as to point me in the direction of how to do this I would greatly appreciate it.

TM 31-210 sec.1 process no.2

[Swineherd]

I like to be able to do things I may not necessarily ever do.