Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Nitrates from fireworks

Korialstrasz69 - 12-11-2015 at 22:16

Hey guys,i'm interested in extracting and purifying nitrates from fireworks.
what are the fireworks in favor and their mixtures ?i already got my hand on some smoke fireworks that only say "0860".i tried google but couldn't find the exact mixture.i dissolved it in water,sulfur precipitated and the water turned Red.The smoke bomb color was white,by the way,so it's probably not strontium salts.if i correctly recall,not potassium nitrate nor potassium chlorate is red in solution,so what could it be?thanks ahead.

Deathunter88 - 13-11-2015 at 00:58

Quote: Originally posted by Korialstrasz69  
Hey guys,i'm interested in extracting and purifying nitrates from fireworks.
what are the fireworks in favor and their mixtures ?i already got my hand on some smoke fireworks that only say "0860".i tried google but couldn't find the exact mixture.i dissolved it in water,sulfur precipitated and the water turned Red.The smoke bomb color was white,by the way,so it's probably not strontium salts.if i correctly recall,not potassium nitrate nor potassium chlorate is red in solution,so what could it be?thanks ahead.


Light one and see what the flame colour is, that can help in identifying the chemical. Try to look for signal flares, they are mostly strontium nitrate.

Bert - 13-11-2015 at 05:42

1. Colored smokes are usually made with a low temperature burning mix and a volatile dye. Potassium chlorate + lactose at the lower end of the possible burning range for the oxidizer, plus an organic dye that boils at a reasonably low temperature.

So you have a not very soluble oxidizer, and not a very large proportion of the mixture even IS oxidizer...

2. Modern fusees are made with an oxidizer mixture- Usually mostly potassium perchlorate (non hygroscopic) and just enough Strontium nitrate to give a red color... And once again, these mixtures are long on fuel & short on oxidizer to prolong burn time.

Why do you want an oxidizer. Which oxidizer(s) do you want.

Upsilon - 13-11-2015 at 05:58

Why bother? Fireworks cost leagues more than something like calcium nitrate fertilizer. Unless you're just doing it for fun.

ave369 - 13-11-2015 at 06:26

Fireworks are useful in obtaining salts of strontium and barium. The easiest type of firework to obtain barium compounds is the sparkler: unused green sparklers can be ground and leached with water to get barium nitrate, used ones - to leach barium hydroxide.

Red sparklers can serve as sources of strontium, but here is a trick: they also contain potassium chlorate. This can be useful, too: leach the unused red sparklers with hot water to get both strontium nitrate and potassium chlorate, then cool the solution to near-freezing temp to recrystallize potassium chlorate.

phlogiston - 13-11-2015 at 11:23

Don't use hot water.
The hot nitrate solution will rapidly react with the metal powders in the mixture (usually aluminium and iron) which will cause the hot mixture to boil violently and destroy your nitrates.

First, get most of the iron powder out with a magnet. Then use a large volume of cold water, filter and concentrate by evaporation.

There are far easier ways to obtain nitrates or barium/strontium salts.

Deathunter88 - 14-11-2015 at 03:57

Quote: Originally posted by Bert  

2. Modern fusees are made with an oxidizer mixture- Usually mostly potassium perchlorate (non hygroscopic) and just enough Strontium nitrate to give a red color... And once again, these mixtures are long on fuel & short on oxidizer to prolong burn time.



Hmm, the signal flares here contain 60-70% strontium nitrate with 10% potassium perchlorate. It probably depends on the brand.