Making AP
Making Ammonium Perchlorate has potential cost savings over purchasing it.
I have been reading on the web about electrolysis and how to make AP.
I am concentrating on making AP only, but there are many other different chemicals that can be made.
Most of the content here was learned from this great website which has lots of other useful info.
List of things needed to make AP efficiently:
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platinum or lead dioxide (or magnetite only for chlorate production not perchlorate) for the anode
stainless steel wire for the cathode
NaCl salt (~600grams/liter initial solution)
low voltage/high amperage power supply
glass jar or other non-reactive container to store solution
potassium persulphate (purple powder used in small quantities to increase reaction efficiency)
KCl not needed when making AP but can add to sodium persulphate to get potassium persulphate
HCl (keeps solution from becoming alkaline/inefficient + removes sodium chlorate (warning:toxic/explosive ClO2 gas!)
Ammonium nitrate (does double replacement with AP to produce sodium nitrate and ammonium perchlorate)
Indigo Carmine (a way to test for chlorates - which are dangerous to have if making AP)
Notes on obtaining necessary items:
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platinum: found in some coins, currency brokers, precious metal brokers, some places sell plated wire too.
lead dioxide: necessary if you don't want to buy platinum anodes. Here is the process to make a lead dioxide anode.
stainless steel wire: should be able to buy a spool of this at a hardware store.
low voltage transformer: I use a used computer power supply (ATX type) this gives me 20 amps at 5V
potassium persulphate: purple powder dropped from planes to do controlled burning I think..
KCl: known as "Dyna-K White" potassium supplement for livestock - also used as a water softener -Home Depot -
can also be obtained as "Muriate of potash" (fertilizer) Has an N-P-K listing of 0-0-63 (thanks to Terry McCreary!)
HCl: used to clean cement and can be found at a builders supply store - known as muriatic acid - Canadian Tire
Ammonium nitrate: golf course fertilizer, hydroponics or garden store should be able to order it in
Indigo Carmine: used for microscopical staining (similar to the methylene blue) purchase from a lab supply store
General process for making AP:
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1. dissolve salt (NaCl or KCl) into water solution then put into your setup and turn on power
2. leave for a time dependant on solution quantity/efficiency and power being consumed
3. test for chlorates (which are VERY bad to have if making AP since ammonium chlorate is unstable and explosive)
4. destroy chlorates by adding HCl and boiling - will emit ClO2 yellow gas (toxic and explosive over 10%conc!)
5. If HCl was added, add NaOH (or appropriate hydroxide or carbonate for your application) to basify solution
6. test for chlorates again to make sure there are none before proceeding
7. Once the testing has determined there are no chlorates, add ammonium nitrate (AN) to solution and let dissolve
8. precipitate out AP (at -10 Celcius) this forms from the reaction: NaClO4 + NH3NO4 <-> NH3ClO4 + NaNO4
9. dry AP and mill to desired size for use in rocket fuel with HTPB etc.
Our Setup:
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once we are successfully producing rocket fuel oxidizer, I will put pics and more stuff here!