Best Way to Make Nitrite: Comparing 7 Methods

In this video I discuss the science and uses of nitrite compounds, and then test 7 different methods of making potassium nitrite.
These methods are tested for purity and percent yield via an array of qualitative and quantitative tests, and the most promising methods scaled up to try and create a meaningful quantity of usable potassium nitrite.
I also include a final purification step to clean any crude nitrite salt to 100% Purity.
This is by far my longest video, and it kind of had to be given the complexity of the tests and analysis. I have heard though that many of you prefer longer videos in general, so leave a comment if you'd like to see more long chemistry videos like this one!

NOTES: I also tried carbon and sulfur as reducing agents, but did not include them as they were both unreasonably difficult to clean up into a usable final product. This is because both carbon and sulfur are almost TOO good at reducing nitrate, and I ran into the same issue I did with the calcium formate where there was just a huge amount of byproduct and a violent decomposition. Additionally, ultrafine carbon requires celite filtration to remove completely. That said, both of these methods work (and are probably the cheapest per unit of mass) so definitely worth considering if the additional impurity isn't an issue.
Also, I forgot to mention it in the video, but silver nitrite is a fantastic intermediate for the synthesis of any other nitrite salt. Simply react any chloride salt with the silver nitrite and you'll be left with insoluble silver chloride along with the nitrite salt of whatever cation held the chloride.

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CHAPTERS
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0:00 Intro
1:43 Why Make Nitrite?
4:30 Systematic Procedure
5:32 Running 7 Methods
12:57 Extracting Nitrite from Reaction Matrix
14:27 Titration for Quantitative Results
18:51 Qualitative Tests
20:55 Bulk Synthesis of Top Performers
28:16 Analysis of Final Potassium Nitrite
33:34 Purification to 100%
37:25 Future Ideas and Lab Notes
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[chedisLoL]

"youtube, I am not making potassium niTRATE, im making Nitrite"

"So anyways, I bought Potassium nitrate on amazon for $20"

[NurdRage]

Awesome work! i'll probably be making my nitrite this way, the purification is what really sets this apart from all the other procedures i've seen.

[htomerif]

Its very valuable to see all of the "failures" here. While they failed to efficiently produce nitrite, there's a lot of things that happened that might be useful or useful to avoid for people trying other reactions.
Also, silver again. Its always silver. It would be nice if you could get from silver nitrate to nitrite in one step since they're so easy to separate, but probably not (without already having a nitrite salt, I mean).

[h-vd]

Absolutely phenomenal work! Working from small scale to large scale, multiple runs, qualitative tests and titration? I'm not sure when was the last time I've seen someone be so careful and diligent in actually getting reliable numbers for their results. Keep it up!

[BackYardScience]

Great video! Very thorough and easy to follow. Thanks for sharing! Also, I really like the longer video showing the whole process and would like to see more of it in the future. Keep up the great work!

[hedgeberg]

Re: longer format, love it. A+. Woild absolutely watch more in the future.

[waynoswaynos]

Thanks man, long yet thorough. A great future reference and I took some solid notes. Legendary, excellent work.

An old metallurgy book I read said 1 part Sand, 3 parts ground charcoal (Lindin wood burnt the hottest) 6 parts Nitre. Fulminate it. Get it hot enough to flow (>440˚C). If you drop another glowing coal into the crucible any remaining nitre will kick it off again and whizz around. When the charcoal floats on the surface all is consumed. I guess the silicate was useful for reducing metals and could be dispensed with. This method might make a lot of hydroxide. Not sure, was certainly alkaline and deliquesced. Simple but made a lot of smoke! All of a sudden too!

Incidentally, did you happen to drip some HCl into the first Lead Reduced Nitrite? I wonder if the impurity was lead Nitrate, where the Oxide would drop out.

[latterstyle]

loved this longer video. It honestly is something I'm going to use in the future as a chemist for reference videos on how to make these things and how to do it well.

[darkmann]

Yes yes yes loving the longer video. This was a fascinating journey!

[robertanderson]

Great work! Just to say, iodine reacts with the iodide ion in aqueous solution to form the triiodide ion, which is orange. That is likely the orange color you were seeing.

[isabutchers]

i love how youtube cares more about you making the easily available chemical you can buy in 25kg bags more than a much less common nitrite

[afernandesrp]

Loved the longer video!!! Content was very well made.

[derekturner]

In my quest to get Barium Nitrite, I settled on using Silver Nitrite as the intermediate as well for very pure product. I've had near 100% recovery of the silver after doing the double displacement to Barium Nitrite. I've also been using the CaSO3 route to reduce Barium Nitrate to Barium Nitrite via your reduction. I recently use a muffle to slowly ramp the temp with a close fitting lightly vented lid, which has resulted in much better yield. THat said, my use for the Barium Nitrite is not sensetive to Barium Nitrate contamination and it's acidified with HNO3 anyway. Great video! And if I didn't say it, thank you for the starting point you shared with CaNO3!

[DiskneyCabrera]

Good long video wasn't boring at all. A couple of these won't hurt anybody, just a couple of beakers, maybe. Thanks for the class!

[jamesg]

Nicely done! And I for one prefer the "long form" approach.

[adriendeseck-herce]

OMG THANK YOU so much it is so complicated to find nitrite, and I didn’t know where to start.

[anthonyanglim]

What a pleasure to watch man! Thank you for all the hard work, I would love to see more! For me this longer format was superior, I very much enjoyed the journey through all of the processes to finally end at a resolution. Just great man.

[bloodedge]

Cool always knew the CaSO3 method was the best, Wish you gave tips and trick for filtering the calcium sulfate. Love the longer video and the method for purification with silver nitrate.
Also i think(i may be wrong) that solubility of sodium nitrite/nitrate is not the same in alcohol(they are almost the same in water) so alcohol can be used for making the sodium salt.
edit: heating a strong oxydent with a combustible(alcohol) is probably not a good idea.

[Psychx_]

I like the long video format very much, also because it adds a lot of educational value to your content. I wouldn't want shorter videos to completely go away though. Maybe you can switch back and forth, depending on the project? That would be the best of both worlds.

[alllove]

Hey, if you want an easy, fast way to get nitrite from nitrate that is pure enough to make alkyl nitrites (at least that), 1:1 sulfur to KNO3 ratio BY VOLUME, burned on a surface you don't care much about. Of course, you could do it stoichiometrically correct and get the pure product. I've got an eye for the nitrite via this method, and the best part is you can separate the waste from the product with water. It works. It stinks during burn, but it works. I was very surprised the first time. Nice video, as per usual. It's always fun to watch a contest. ❤