Method and apparatus for manufacturing nitrogen tetroxide
Dinitrogen tetroxide (N 2 O 4 ) is synthesized in an apparatus by the reaction of concentrated nitric acid with copper. Oxygen is applied as a carrier gas to convert NO to NO 2 , and water vapor is removed with a tube dryer. A molecular sieve is applied to reduce and remove impurities.
1. A method for manufacturing nitrogen tetroxide comprising:
mixing nitric acid and copper in a reaction vessel to form a reaction slurry;
allowing gas to desorb from the reaction slurry;
applying O 2 as a carrier gas to convert NO that has desorbed from the reaction slurry to NO 2 ;
collecting the NO 2 ; and
allowing NO 2 to dimerize to N 2 O 4 .
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the collecting is done at dry ice temperature.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising purifying the N 2 O 4 .
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the purifying step is by distillation through a molecular sieve bed.
5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the step of purifying comprising forming a vapor of NO 2 and/or N 2 O 4 .
6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising collecting the vapor of NO 2 and/or N 2 O 4 and converting it to a purified liquid N 2 O 4 .
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing the N 2 O 4 over a molecular sieve in the presence of O 2 .