Sciencemadness Discussion Board

MeNO2 Distillation

gravityzero - 12-3-2014 at 11:20

Had some old nitro laying around and was thinking about purifying some this weekend.

Gonna work with small amounts, under 100ml, at least until I get the hang of it.
This should be relatively pure stuff, as it is the kind used in R/C models. It is currently slightly yellow in color, which I've read is due to an added stabilizer.

Since it has been laying around for some time, I was thinking of drying first with CaCl2 or MgSO4, filtering, then distilling.

Not sure if fractional distillation is necessary to seperate the stabilizer, since I don't know what stabilizer is being employed.

Suggestions, precautions, advice, & references are all welcomed.

Fantasma4500 - 13-3-2014 at 07:53

to my knowledge for RC its usually sadly just 90 10 MeOH MeNO2 mix

if its 90 10 mix it should be alot less dangerous, try heating the liquid in a plastic bottle and burning it off to see how catastrophical it can go with decent OB

if you have any simple ideas of comparing U2U me, i got some pure NM in case i have managed to make you unsure of your NM's purity

woelen - 13-3-2014 at 12:42

Take a teaspoon full of solid NaOH (small pellets or granules) and pour a ml or 2 of your supposed CH3NO2 on it and step back. If the material is pure, then in a few minutes you will get a very violent reaction and you even may get fire. If it is only 10% CH3NO2 then you only get some heating up and some change of color.

Another test: Pure CH3NO2 does not ignite when a flame is kept near, a mix of CH3OH and CH3NO2 will ignite easily when a flame is kept nearby. Try this with 1 ml or so, poured on a small glass plate or in a petri dish or watch glass.