Nitration German method

The nitration plant was identical in principle with that described above, with mechanical stirring. In the German method cellulose in the form of crepe paper prepared from 70% birch and 30% spruce was nitrated. Cellulose, tom to pieces in rollers, was dried to reduce its moisture content from 6-7 to 1.2%. Towards the end of the war the drying stage was omitted at Kriimmel, and cellulose containing 6-7% of moisture was nitrated, since the time saved and the economy in steam achieved then was reckoned sufficient compensation for the need to make use of more concentrated acids. 

Material balance Continuous methods of nitration Earlier methods Modem methods British method German method Swedish Bofors-Noretl method... 

Finishing wood cellulose Other sources of cellulose Drying cellulose before nitration Industrial nitration of cellulose Mixed acids Nitration m pots Centrifugal nitration Thomsons method Nitration with mechanical stirring German method Continuous methods of nitration Literature... 

Esters of nitroalcohol and unsaturated acids Industrial mcth(xls of nitrating alkanes German method tjf nitration of lower alkanes Method of Commercial Stdvcnis Corporation, Inc. 

Nitration of MNT and DNT to TNT Old U.S S R. method (according to Gorst) Mononitration of toluene Dinitration Triniiration German method... 

Trinitro derivatives of naphthalene Chemical properties Structure of a- and -y-isomers a-Triniironaphihalcnc y-Trinitronaphihalcnc Tetranitro derivatives of naphthalene Structure of teiraniironaphthalcnes Thcrmochcmical properties of nitro naphihalencs Side reactions of the nitration of naphthalene Manufacture of nitro derivatives of naphthalene Nitration of naphthalene to mononitronapchalcnc German method Separation... 

Nitration of naphthalene todinitronaphthalene German method French method... 

M. von Duttenhofer (1843-1903) nitrated brown charcoal (used for prepn of C/82) by Schultze s method to obtain colloided rifle powder RCP (Rottweiler Cellulose Pulver) which was adopted by the German Army in 1884, but its compn was kept secret until 1887 (See also Vol 5 of Encycl, p D1581, under Duttenhofer s Smokeless Propellant ) (Ref 44, p 244)... 

The Germans need to supplant Chilean saltpeter supply, which could be cut off by enemy blockades, led to the search for methods to synthesize nitrates. The reaction required a supply of ammonia, which was economically synthesized by Fritz Haber (1868—1934) before World War I (see Ammonia). Ammonia could then be converted to nitric acid through the Ostwald process and then nitric acid can be reacted with bases to produce nitrates (see Nitric Acid) KOH + HNO 4 - KNO. + HO... 

According to the German (Griesheim) method [60] tetryl is manufactured in two stages first dinitromethylaniline is prepared and this is then nitrated. 

A slightly different method of guanidine nitrate manufacture was introduced in German plants during World War II. It consists in the chemical combination of ammonium nitrate and cyanamide as defined by eqns. (12) and (13). 

Rept 1035 or PB Rept 78271 (1947) (Continuous method for manufg Methyl Nitrate) 24)W, DeC. Crater, IEC 40, 1628 (1948) (Bibliography on WWII German continuous methods of manuf expls) 25)Stettbacher (1948), 60 (Lists some continuous installations) 26)M.Biazzi, USP 2438244 (1948) CA 42 4008 (1948) (See Ref 15) 27)J.C.Smith, Chemlnd 62, 929-31 (1948) (Biazzi method) 28)A.Bresser, IndChemist... 

With the outbreak of World War I the shortage of alcohol compelled German factories to give up the crystallization method and to confine purification either to thorough washing with hot water or to crystallization by dissolving the TNT in concentrated sulphuric acid followed by precipitation with water (Vender s method [24]). The precipitation could be controlled by adding sufficient water to allow lower nitrated and unsymmetrical derivatives of TNT to remain in solution. 

During World War II a method of preparing mixtures of nitro compounds (e.g. TNT and TNX, or TNT and tetryl, see Vol. IV) was developed by the Germans. It consisted in the nitration of the corresponding lower nitrated compounds, namely a mixture of mononitrotoluenes plus mononitroxylenes was nitrated in two stages to form trinitro compounds. In this way a product containing 20% of TNX and 80% of TNT was obtained. 

MacKie and Orton [71] found that tetranitromethane could be obtained by reacting anhydrous nitric acid with acetylene in the presence of mercuric nitrate. During World War II the Germans manufactured tetranitromethane by this method on a semi-commercial scale, after they had developed the industrial process (Schim-melschmidt [72]). 

The industrial method for the nitration of propane is based mainly on the description by Dole2el (4] in the German edition of the book by the author of the present monograph. Some detaUs can also be found in the review article by Shechter and R. B. Kaplan [6b. ... 

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