prilled Nitrate

[fred815]

Skylighter seems to be offering a pretty good deal on Prilled Nitrate. Chunky old stuff with very lttle non nitrtate stuff mixed in... I needed some anyway and ball mill My P. Nitrate separately before using anyway??? Is this stuff any good??????

[dagabu]

Skylighter seems to be offering a pretty good deal on Prilled Nitrate. Chunky old stuff with very lttle non nitrtate stuff mixed in... I needed some anyway and ball mill My P. Nitrate separately before using anyway??? Is this stuff any good??????

 

There are a few of us that have already received samples of this KNO3 now up here in the Nort and have made up BP with it. It is kind of prilled but it is not hard crystals but rather little balls of KNO3. It grinds easily in a blade grinder and even ball mills if you dry it first (2-3% water loss over 3 hours at 200°F)

 

This is HAFIA prilled KNO3 straight from a new bag. The crystals are small and uniform, the color is very white and consistent. It makes nice BP and is easy to work with but has to be ground before making BP out of it.

 

 

 

 

This is the Skylighter KNO3. It is a little off color, a slight yellow or brown hue. The prills are much larger then the other and vary in size.

 

 

Both pictures were taken in natural light, no flash and all settings including distance from piles is the same. No retouching or filtering was used.

 

Having used both to make BP, I prefer the Skylighter KNO3, the BP is a little hotter and the prills grind down to fine talc in less time then the HAFIA. It is also a lot cheaper then bags of GG KNO3 right now.

 

-dag

Edited April 18, 2012 by dagabu

[Mumbles]

I'm sure it's of sufficient quality. One thing to check before investing in a lot is if your mill will crush prills. Mine would not. I was using fairly small media on the recommendation of a another pyro. It works great........once your material is -30 mesh or so. They can be kind of a pain in the butt, but if they're cheap and you don't mind the hassle, go for it.

[nater]

Were you using 000 buckshot that was recommended? I was wondering how well it could grind up larger particle sizes since the shot is much lighter. I ended up finding .45 round balls for a good price and seem to be having good luck. I use Haifa nitrate that looks just like the top picture Dag posted.

[fred815]

Mmmmmm Interesting??? Guess I should have mentioned skylighter is giving 10 lbs of the stuff ( AS long as you order $75 worth of something else)??

[Mumbles]

Yeah, it was 000 buckshot. The stuff I had was pretty much identical to the second picture that Dagabu posted, Champion brand. Varying prill sizes, though pretty white. There was a very small amount of insoluble residue when dissolved, but nothing I ever had problems with. I don't know if it was the weight or just that the prills were too close in size to the media so that it wasn't being smashed as efficiently. Also, it was kind of wet, so the clumping didn't help anything. I'm still on the lookout for cheap Zirc media, or good ceramic.

[Nessalco]

FWIW, I've been using prilled nitrate from a bio-diesel supplier on eBay for a couple of years. I've had no problems with it, and it grinds easily in my mill. I'm using brass media, 1/2" x 5/8" in a 4" ID jar. Small, reasonably consistent prills, no trash, no problems with moisture.

 

Kevin

[Algenco]

the priled contains a binder to make it "slow release", but not enough to affect our use

[Potassiumchlorate]

I mill Krista K+ for one hour before milling it with sulfur and charcoal for three hours. With a good ballmill, that'll do fine.

[oldguy]

I have milled 3 differing brands of prills without issue, running PVC jars & Zirc “M” ceramic media.

With the caveat that if it is damp at all, warm air dry it first.

I believe the issue Mumbles had was due to the small media he was using.

 

 

[dagabu]

FWIW, I've been using prilled nitrate from a bio-diesel supplier on eBay for a couple of years. I've had no problems with it, and it grinds easily in my mill. I'm using brass media, 1/2" x 5/8" in a 4" ID jar. Small, reasonably consistent prills, no trash, no problems with moisture.

 

Kevin

 

DUDA Diesel?

 

LINK

 

-dag

[dagabu]

Yeah, it was 000 buckshot. The stuff I had was pretty much identical to the second picture that Dagabu posted, Champion brand. Varying prill sizes, though pretty white. There was a very small amount of insoluble residue when dissolved, but nothing I ever had problems with. I don't know if it was the weight or just that the prills were too close in size to the media so that it wasn't being smashed as efficiently. Also, it was kind of wet, so the clumping didn't help anything. I'm still on the lookout for cheap Zirc media, or good ceramic.

 

I have Champion too but the bags are sealed still and don't want to open them to compare the prills.

 

-dag

[Nessalco]

DUDA Diesel?

 

LINK

 

-dag

 

That's the fellow.

 

Kevin

[dagabu]

That's the fellow.

 

Kevin

 

They sell sulfur and some other neat chems too

 

-dag

[Mumbles]

My bags were never fully sealed. They have a pouring "vent" or something on them. I stored them outdoors unclimate controlled. It was really only the last year that I really had any trouble with them, and I've had the bags for about 5 years. The stuff I kept elsewhere in a sealed 5 gallon bucket was usually pretty good. I included a picture below of what I had, before and after drying the prills. You will notice that the prills took on a slightly translucent color after sitting outdoors for so long, which goes away on drying. I don't remember now how much water they had absorbed, but it was a very measurable amount. Normally I ground the material up before drying, but this was a test.

[Stryker]

Does anyone have a good method of drying prilled KNO3?

[oldguy]

Does anyone have a good method of drying prilled KNO3?

 

Check thrift stores for a cheap 18 quart countertop roaster oven, with an inner insert tray.

I paid $10 bucks for this old one.

Edited April 22, 2012 by oldguy

[Stryker]

Thank you oldguy. That sounds like a winner!