piroraj - 3-8-2004 at 12:23
To make RDX you need red fuming nitric acid, which is expensive and hard to obtain or made at home.
In normal nitration you can use 70% HNO3 instead of concentrated nitric acid, but you need to add more 98% H2SO4, which absorbs water (the product is
not so good, but it works).
I think that in the production of RDX you could also use 70% HNO3 and a chemical that absorbs water. H2SO4 is not good, as we all know, because
decomposes the product. I thought about AlCl3. It is a powerful water absorber and it is not reactive to mess the reaction. Would it work? This
parasitic reaction is possible: 3HNO3 + AlCl3 --> 3HCl + Al(NO3)3 if HNO3 is stronger acid than HCl. There are also other chemicals that absorb
water and could be as good or even better for this purpose. AlCl3 could be also good for other nitrations as a partial replacement of H2SO4.
Another way is to use 98% H2SO4 and ammonium nitrate in excess. Reaction: H2SO4 + 2NH4NO3 --> 2HNO3 + (NH4)2SO4 In the mixture there would be no
H2SO4 and almost no water after the reaction. Only HNO3, (NH4)2SO4 and NH4NO3. This mixture could be used for hexamine nitration in order to make RDX.
The presence of ammonium nitrate in it is appreciated, because it helps the nitration (the K process). What about (NH4)2SO4? Would it screw up the
nitration?
froot - 3-8-2004 at 13:14
1)There are other water scavengers one can use.
Acetic anhydride
Phosphorous pentoxide
dehydrated magnesium/calcium nitrate
2)You'd have to ensure all your H2SO4 is used up by the NH4NO3, which is unlikely, and the product could still be contaminated with HDN.
3)Take some time to look around for some answers. There's a thread called 'real RDX' presenting an alternative synth.
Nick F - 3-8-2004 at 13:29
"you need red fuming nitric acid"
Wrong.
"which is expensive"
Wrong.
"and hard to obtain or made at home"
Wrong.
"This mixture could be used for hexamine nitration in order to make RDX."
Wrong.
Although I'm sure I used to think exactly the same things 
.
As froot said, there is at least one good thread here, a few hours reading will give you some very useful info...
Sarevok - 4-8-2004 at 22:05
"Don't innovate, imitate."
GB145791
piroraj - 6-8-2004 at 11:34
I have red the thread 'real RDX', and there is no answer to my questions. I taught that thread is too old to post a reply (last post:
3-10-2003)
More than 90% HNO3 is expensive, at least for me ($63 for 500ml). For $63 I can buy 10 l of 65% HNO3 or 10 l of 96% H2SO4. If one of the twenty above
procedures has ten times smaller yield than the original procedure I can make the same amount of RDX at the same price.
I own a site about explosives (the biggest in my country). In contrast to many other sites it contains only procedures that can be carried out at
home. It doesn’t use complicated lab skills or equipment as for instance distillation (costs over $200). It also uses cheap chemicals available in
common shops and drugstores.
So for me is vital to find out the easiest and cheapest procedures.
Has anybody successfully used 70% HNO3 and a water scavenger to make RDX? If yes, please describe the procedure and the quantities. Acetic anhydride
and Phosphorous pentoxide are hard to obtain for me. I am more interested to dehydrated magnesium/calcium nitrate, because they are easy to make at
home. Why AlCl3 does not work?
H2SO4/ NH4NO3 procedure: I agree that not all H2SO4 is used up by the NH4NO3, but if you use twice more NH4NO3 than stehiometric quantity, only traces
of H2SO4 can be present at the end. This can lead to lower yield and the formation of some HDN. Why is the formation of HDN bad? It is a explosive,
and is not very sensitive. Where is the problem?
[Edited on 6-8-2004 by piroraj]
tom haggen - 6-8-2004 at 11:40
Yet another practical discussion on HE.
Well it took a while for me to learn, but you will learn in time.
vulture - 6-8-2004 at 11:51
A thread is NEVER, NEVER, NEVER too old to reply too.
Tell the truth and say "I wanted more attention for my replies".
So, closed.
Post your questions in the other thread and refrain from practical discussion. What you're asking is nothing new. It's ALL out there.