Ammonia (dilute)

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Dilute ammonia is produced by many biological processes, but can also be produced with relative ease.

Primary

Secondary

  • Antibacterial and insect repellant qualities

Natural occurrence

  • Ammonia is produced directly by most aquatic creatures, and excreted in their urine
  • The urea in land animal urine hydrolyses naturally into dilute ammonia

Hazards

Production

Extraction

Air stripping

  • Needed: One large lidded or sealable container, and a smaller open-topped container that can be placed upright within the larger one.
  1. Fill the larger container to a shallow depth with urine.
  2. Add some grass to make sure there are sufficient bacteria to start
  3. Repeat this process
    1. Place the lid on the large container
    2. Wait one day
    3. Lift the lid on the large container
    4. Smell the urine
      Check There should be no bugs, living or dead, in the container with the urine.
  4. Until the urine smells strongly of ammonia
  5. Fill the small container with a small amount of distilled water
  6. Place the smaller container upright within the larger container, not getting the water in the urine or the urine in the water
  7. Replace the lid on the larger container
  8. Wait for several (warm) days
  9. Remove the small container from the large container.
  10. The large container now contains stale urine. Discard or add to compost to promote nitrogen growth.
  11. The small container now contains dilute ammonia

Synthesis

Dry distillation

dry distillation of horn, hoof, and other nitrogenous organic matter produces some ammonia.

Dung burning

Basically a variation on the above process: burn the (urine soaked) dung at a low temperature and collect the ammonium chloride (NH4Cl) left in the ash. Add Sodium Hydroxide to release the ammonia.

Kjeldahl

Ammonia can be produced from the ammonium sulfate produced by the Kjeldahl method. This is wildly inefficient, but relatively simple. An arbitrary nitrogen-bearing organic compound [H•C•O•N•] is dissolved in hot sulfuric acid while providing excess oxygen. This results in carbon dioxide, water, and ammonium bisulfate. The carbon dioxide escapes, and the ammonium bisulfate solution is evaporated until crystals begin to form. Water is added to form a completely saturated solution of ammonium bisulfate, then sodium hydroxide is added, producing a sodium sulfate solution and gaseous ammonia.

  1. H•C•O•N• + H2SO4 CO2 + H2O + NH4SO4
  2. Form saturated solution
  3. NH4SO4 + NaOH NH3 + 2 H2O + Na2SO4

Purification

Concentration of dilute ammonia

Boiling ammonia water, then condensing or water-washing the vapors can get you to near 40%, which is a practical maximum at standard pressure.

See Also

Web

References