I've had some success with ethanol.
Drying this material is a pain indeed, when the temp reaches above a certain point it becomes so soluable that it will dissolve itself even in tiny
traces of water , the effect is really pretty as it returns from solid to liquid in a flashing almost instant manner.
Of course the decomposition temp is so close that it will decompose even before the last water is driven off.
I figured alcohol could be useful to assist in driving off the remaining water.
The AN was placed in a steel container and slowly heated to roughly 100 degrees C.
With the remaining water present this turns into a thick liquid.
Ethanol was added in small portions which obviously instantly boils and forces the AN to crystalize upon contact.
While the AN was still slightly wet with alcohol the container was taken off the heat and placed under a high watt lightbulb covered with some
aluminium foil.
After a few hours the material was nearly dry and placed in an desiccator, overnight the material was perfectly dry.
This might not be the safest, especially the instant boil/crashing of the AN is violent , sending a mist of AN/water and ethanol into the air.
Take proper precautions.
I realize that mixing a hot oxidizer with a fuel is a bad idea from a theoretical point of view however I do not believe that this is actually likely
to lead to an explosion or combustion.
Bio ethanol comes quite cheap here, making this an affordable method.
In the past I used my car for drying materials, as funny as this may sound it was very effective, as you know a car in the sun can reach temp of 50
degrees C and beyond and with one window left open there is plenty of vapor pressure, also there is a relatively small amount of airborn dust. The
energy involved is remarkable and free.
[Edited on 15-7-2020 by Belowzero] |
