June 3rd, 2009 | 
Author: Heard of TNT, nitroglycerine and Semtex? What do they have in common? If you are not really familiar with chemicals, the one compound that is present in these, or is a derivative of, is nitric acid.
Nitric acid is extremely harmful. It is highly corrosive, strongly reactive, a powerful oxidizer and a poison. As a matter of fact, the material safety data sheet states that it has an extreme health rating of 4 which means it is a poison, a severe reactivity rating of 3 due to its strong oxidizing properties, and an extreme contact rating of 4 which signifies its corrosive capacities.
Nonetheless, it is also because of these properties which make nitric acid very valuable in many various applications. It is very important in esterification and nitration processes of organic substances as well as in the manufacture of fertilizers, plastics, dyes, nitrates, sulfuric acid, and as mentioned earlier, explosives. It is also widely used in the water treatment, reprocessing of used nuclear fuels as well as cleaning and plating of metal surfaces.
Nitric Acid in Fertilizers
Ammonium nitrate, an excellent fertilizer component, is made by mixing ammonia and nitric acid. Nitric acid is one of the basic chemical ingredients in the fertilizer industry. As a matter of fact, approximately 80% of the chemical is used for fertilizer production.
However, excessive use of fertilizers and their runoff results to eutrophication of our waterways which causes environmental degradation and poses a huge threat to plant and animal life. Eutrophication is the nutrient overload in bodies of water which trigger algal blooms and other plants to grow out of control. This phenomenon uses up almost all available dissolved oxygen in the water while robbing other plants and animals of oxygen.
Nitric Acid as Cleaning Agent
Because of its strong acidic properties, nitric acid is used for serious and deep cleaning processes such as those in the food, pharmaceuticals, health, and industrial cleaning. However, also due to the fact that nitric acid is highly corrosive and highly hazardous, its application as a cleaning agent must be handled with extreme caution.
In brewery, it is used to remove inorganic deposits and beerstone. Nitric acid also has effective antimicrobial properties even when used in more stable and less dangerous solutions with phosphoric acid. It is also used to clean ICP-MS cones in glass making but proper attention must be given in the concentration of nitric acid in the cleaning solution. Also, the frequency could be as seldom as once a month to avoid corrosion of the metals.
Nitric Acid in Explosives
Nitric acid is extremely reactive and, in its pure form, can be very unstable. Trinitrotoluene (TNT) and nitroglycerin are two very explosive derivatives of nitric acid.
TNT is the result of three nitrogen dioxide groups added to toluene. It contains stable and strongly bonded carbon, oxygen and nitrogen compound so that when it is ignited, it releases a lot of energy and as a result of this closely grouped together nitro groups, TNT is an unstable chemical.
Nitroglycerin, on the other hand, is the nitric acid triester of glycerol. Same as TNT, a glycerin molecule has three nitrate groups bonded to a hydrocarbon fragment. This is more commonly used in the production of dynamite and in its full strength is comparable to more powerful explosives developed today such as C-4 and RDX.
Nitric acid is a very dangerous chemical although it can be quite stable when handled properly and stored in safe conditions. Always follow label directions and practice safety measures when dealing with nitric acid. Despite its explosive, corrosive and strongly reactive capacities, it is a key chemical in many industrial applications precisely because of these very same properties.
Jo is an author and publisher for ‘ReAgent Chemical Services Ltd’ (http://www.reagent.co.uk), an established UK stationed chemical manufacturer that manufactures, has a supply of and supplies an enormous variety of high quality chemicals. If your company is seeking premium chemical product such as Nitric Acid or has other industrial compound needs for uses like chemical fusion, analytical applications and cleaning then check out ReAgent Chemical Services Ltd.
Article Source: Nitric Acid In Some Applications: As Fertilizer, Cleaning Agent And In Explosives
