--------------------------------------Making Nitroglycerin (an actual method)

--------------------------------------by: Simon
3-18-2004
---------------------------Well, this is my first text file. I am not a computer user, but luckily
I have plenty
of typing experience on my IBM Typewritter. Let me first explain exactly why I a
m writing this;
I am visiting my relatives here in California, I am from Texas. I made mention o
f the fact that
I know how to make Nitroglycerin to one of my cousins, he wanted to know how. So
he asked me to
get on his computer, and write it down so he could submit it on the internet.
He showed me a few things on the computer that he had on how to make nit
roglycerin,
"the anarchist cookbook" he says. Well, that's not the real way. I am from Texas
, and I did
grow up knowing how to make Nitroglycerin, and it is actually very simple. I'm n
o chemist, and
I can do it. Of course I don't go doing bad things with it, it is quite useful w
hen tearing
down an old house, or shed. I usually use my nitroglycerin batches for blasting
large rocks out
of the ground when I am digging large holes by hand (lots of rocks in Texas).
Anyway, so here is how to make Nitroglycerin.
----------------------------Ok, now let me tell you first off that I have never had a nitroglycerin
reaction go
wrong. I feel totally safe when making nitroglycerin, there really is nothing da
ngerous about
doing this, as long as you use some Common Sense in safety. Like not shaking liq
uids.
This stuff was first made in the middle of the 1800s. That says alot if
you consider
the very simple, rough materials and equipment that they had at the time. Anyone
who has not
been dropped on their head can easily become a master at this. Just as long as y
ou follow the
directions, nothing can really go wrong.
Ok, first a list of things that you're going to need:
--Lots of Ice
--Nitric Acid (Concentrated)
--Sulfuric Acid (Concentrated)
--Glycerin (with NO water)
--Bucket of Water
--Styrofoam Container (the ones for beer)

--Pint Sized Glass Flask

--A 2000mL Seperatory Funnel (easy to come by in catalogs)
--Distilled Water
--Thermometer
First, keep the bucket of water close, if something does go wrong, you c
an drown it out
with water. This will not happen, as long as you are not a complete dumbass.
You must remember that you CAN NOT have glycerin that has water in it. Y
ou must have
actual glycerin. Find a chemical supplier that supplies pure glycerin.
Note that you are constantly using the seperatory funnel. After you use
it once, clean
it, then use it again 20 minutes later. You are going to have to clean it and us
e it about 3
times.
Fill the Styrofoam Container half way full of Ice. This container will b
e used to cool
your flask with all the chemicals in it. The chemicals being cold is 100% REQUIR
ED. If the
ingredients are not cold when mixed, other reactions can take place, and your mi
xture could
explode. This is easily avoided by doing what I just said: fill the Styrofoam Co
ntainer half
way full of Ice.
Put your Nitric Acid and Sulfuric Acid in the freezer for a while before
mixing them
in the flask. That way you do not have to sit around and wait for them to get co
ld. Burry your
glass flask in the ice (ice bath), pour in 200mL concentrated sulfuric acid, and
100mL of
concentrated nitric acid, they are mixed together by swirling the container a bi
t, or mixing
with a glass rod, or the thermometer. This mixing will warm them up a bit, but t
hey will
quickly cool in the ice bath. When the temperature of the acids is 40F, the glyc
erin can be
added. 50mL of glycerin is measured out, and added to the Nitric Acid and Sulfur
ic Acid
mixture 5mL at a time. The best way to do this is to run the small amounts of gl
ycerin down
the inside of the glass, so it gradually pours into the acids. The glass flask i
s tilted at an
angle, and turned like a concrete mixer (using your hands) while you pour the gl
ycerin in. DO
NOT pour the glycerin into the acids all at once, or even in 5mL globules. You m
ust slowly add
it to the acid mixtures. If the glycerin builds up in one spot, a runaway reacti
on can occour,
so make sure to pour it in very slowly as I stated above. Be Gentle.
Do this until you have added all the glycerin. It takes about 25 minutes
, adding ten
portions of glycerin of about 5mL each. The temperature of the acids and glyceri
n inside the

flask should be watched closely. It should not be allowed to rise above 50F. If
it gets too
close to this temperature, the adding of glycerin should stop immidiatly, and th
e mixing
continued with the flask nestled in the ice bath until the temperature drops bac
k down to
around 40F.
Under NO circumstances may it be thought that you can add the nitric aci
d, sulfuric
acid, and glycerin at the same time. To add all three chemicals at once will res
ult in a sure
death I am assuming. I really don't know what would happen, I just know that it
would be very
bad. (My lack in knowledge of this is because I have never been stupid enough to
actually do
it).
When all the glycerin has been added, a milky colored solution will be f
ormed with
little globules of pure nitroglycerin throughout the mixture. After the glycerin
has been
added, the mix can be allowed to warm up a bit. It can be taken out of it's ice
bath, and
allowed to rise around the 50s F. You should stir occasionally during this time.
About 25 minutes after the last bit of glycerin has been added, you can
consider the
reaction to be done. Now is time for the purification process.
First, get a little over quart of cold distilled water, and put it in a
2000mL
seperatory funnel. Pour your nitroglycerin batch into the seperatory funnel with
the water. Let
it sit for a bit, the bottom Oil type layer is the nitroglycerin. A small amount
of the
nitroglycerin stays floating at the top of the water, just splash the water arou
nd the small
droplets of nitroglycerin with a glass stirring rod, and they will sink to the b
ottom. When all
of the Nitroglycerin has seperated from the acid and water, you can release the
stopcock on the
bottom of the sep funnel, and drain out the nitroglycerin into a glass container
. You must NOT
allow any of the other top layer into the jar with the nitroglycerin, because th
e entire point
is to seperate the nitroglycerin from the acids.
The seperated nitroglycerin is added to a cup of cold distilled water, a
nd allowed to
sit for a little while. The water will soak up more acid from the nitroglycerin,
that is the
point of mixing all of this with water: to seperate the acids away from the nitr
oglycerin. It
is good to cause the nitro to flow around on the bottom of its new container eve
ry once in a
while, so that it is not the same old surface exposed to the water all the time.
This water
bath should take no more than about an hour.

pour the nitroglycerin/distilled water back into the sep funnel, and sep
erate the
bottom Nitroglycerin layer from the water/acid layer. Again, be sure to only all
ow the
nitroglycerin to drain.
Take 10 grams of Arm & Hammer, and add it to a cup of distilled water in
the sep
funnel, mixing it until it is totally dissolved (this is your bicarb solution).
The
nitroglycerin still has some acid left in it, and this solution will help pull a
ll of it out.
If there is still acid left in the nitroglycerin, the nitroglycerin will not kee
p, it will
break down. If you skip any of these purification steps, you will have a crappy
nitroglycerin
that will probably not explode. Add the nitroglycerin to the bicarb solution.
When the nitroglycerin is added to the solution, it sinks to the bottom.
It should
look milky and oily. It will probably cause the bicarb solution to bubble a bit,
maybe some
fizzing. You need to rotate the sep funnel, so that the nitroglycerin rolls arou
nd on the
bottom of the container exposing fresh surfaces to the bicarb solution. Tilt it
at about a 45
degree angle to do this, it's better because then more nitroglycerin gets expose
d to the
bicarb solution. Be gentle with every stirring technique you use. Do not use any
rod to stir
the mixture, You do not want to cause friction. With the nitroglycerin in the po
sition that it
is in, you can cause seriously large explsions from causing friction. Soft swirl
ing may be
used. Spend at least a couple of hours on this step. It should be constantly att
ended,
stirred, swirrled, etc.
At the end of the bicarb treatment, the nitroglycerin still looks the sa
me, it still
looks milky. This is from the water caught in the nitroglycerin, and it should
be removed for
the nitroglycerin to be deemed pure. It will cause problems with detonating the
nitro if it is
not removed.
To remove the water completely, you need to get some hot water in a cont
ainer, and
dissolve as much table salt as you can in it. Shake it as much as you can to dis
solve as much
salt as you possibly can in the hot water. When the water cools down, the clear
colored
saturated salt solution (no crystals of salt floating around) is poured off of t
he excess salt
that is sitting on the bottom of the container. Put it in a suitable container.T
he
nitroglycerin can now be put seperated in the seperatory funnel just as before.
You then put
the nitroglycerin into contact with the salt solution. There should be about two
volumes of

salt solution added to one volume of nitroglycerin. After sitting together for a
few hours, the
salt will get all the water out of the nitroglycerin, resulting in a Clear produ
ct.
The yield of nitroglycerin is about 50mL. This is not alot of nitroglycerin, but
enough to
have some fun with.
Well, that's how to do it!