ART
BEAUTY & WELLNESS
CRAFT
CULTURE & HISTORY
ENTERTAINMENT
ENVIRONMENT
FOOD & DRINKS
REVERSE ENGINEERING
SCIENCES
SPORTS
TECHNOLOGY
WEARABLES
Youblob (drawn after Fownes) · CC0
Potassium Sulfate from the Nitric Acid Residue
When nitric acid is distilled from saltpetre and sulfuric acid, an acid salt is left in the retort. George Fownes's chemistry manual turns it into potassium sulfate: dissolve it, neutralise it with crude potash and let the neutral salt crystallise. Potassium sulfate is what makes potash alum from alum shale.
Intermediate
A day with cooling
Instructions
1
1
Dissolve the residue
Dissolve the residue
Break the cold residue out of the nitric acid retort and dissolve it in hot water.
Materials for this step:
Potassium Bisulfate500 g
Water2 litersTools needed:
Balance Scale
Glass Beaker
Hot Plate
Chemical Splash Goggles
Rubber Gloves2
2
Neutralise with potash
Neutralise with potash
Stir in crude potash a little at a time; it fizzes. Stop when litmus paper no longer turns red.
Materials for this step:
Potassium Carbonate (Potash)260 gTools needed:
Glass Beaker
Litmus PaperChemical Splash GogglesRubber Gloves3
3
Filter and crystallise
Filter and crystallise
Filter it hot, boil it down a little and let it cool. Hard, clear crystals of potassium sulfate form.
Tools needed:
Glass Funnel - Stemmed
Filter Paper
Evaporating DishHot Plate4
4
Recrystallise
Recrystallise
Dissolve the crystals again in as little boiling water as will take them, and cool. Dry them gently: Fownes notes they crackle apart if heated suddenly.
Materials for this step:
Water1 as requiredTools needed:
Evaporating DishHot Plate5
5
Potash to neutralise the residue
Potash to neutralise the residue
Loading Jupyter Notebook...
6
6
Limits
Limits
Fownes's method; the amounts are ours, from the reaction. Crude potash carries other salts, so a second crystallising matters.
Materials
3- 500 gPlaceholder
- 1 as requiredPlaceholder
- Placeholder
Tools Required
9- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
This blueprint makes
Related Blueprints
These blueprints share knowledge with this one — techniques, materials, or principles that connect them in the learning graph.
CC0 Public Domain
This blueprint is released under CC0. You are free to copy, modify, distribute, and use this work for any purpose, without asking permission.
Support the Maker by purchasing products through their Blueprint where they earn a Maker Commission set by Vendors, or create a new iteration of this Blueprint and include it as a connection in your own Blueprint to share revenue.