Nitrocellulose solubility measure

Water content of nitrating acid % Nitrogen content of nitrocellulose /o Solubility % Molecular weight of nitrocellulose (from viscosity measurements)... 

An application factor was used to derive an interim freshwater quality criterion for nitrocellulose (NC) [74], This chemical was not toxic to several species of fish, invertebrates, and algae, but had an EC50 of 554.3 pmoles I. to the freshwater alga P. subcap-itata. The value proposed for the protection of freshwater aquatic life was 47.9 pmoles I., approximately 10-fold below the lowest measured toxicity value. However, due to NC s lack of solubility in water, it is speculated if the phytotoxicity is due to adverse effects of the chemical per se or to obscuration of the test solution by the presence of excessive NC. No criteria have been proposed for the protection of marine life. 

As a further step to conserve supplies of acetone-based cordite — due to its stability and uniformity of effect, the preferred choice for naval gunnery — the Research Department at the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich devised a new type of cordite for land service. This was known as cordite RDB. In place of highly nitrated insoluble guncotton, soluble nitrocellulose was substituted, and ether-alcohol was used as the solvent. This resulted in scarcity and higher prices for ether-alcohol, produced by the alcohol distilleries. Despite this, and although it was more expensive to manufacture, cordite RDB was accepted for use in May 1915, and put into production as a war emergency measure. ... 

A tubular 500-foot long vertical coil reactor will be used for disposal of explosives including nitramines and nitrocellulose. The reactor is made of Inconel 625. After hydrolysis of the explosive in NaOH, SCWO is performed at 110 MPa (high pressure to enhance salt solubility) and 450 C. The very high pressure enhances the solubility of the high concentration of salt from the hydrolysis step. The waste residence time in the reactor is several minutes and the measured half-life for destruction is a few seconds, so the destruction efficiency is very high. 

It is possible to perform the paired-ion determination without using a water-immiscible solvent. The ion pair formed by an anionic surfactant with many cationic dyes, including methylene blue and rhodamine 6G, is water-insoluble and, with shaking, will adsorb to the walls of the vessel. After discarding the aqueous solution, the ion pair can be washed from the walls with ethanol or methyl cellosolve and measured spectrophotometri-cally. Best results are obtained with a poly(tetrafluoroethylene) vessel (52). In a similar vein, the ion pair can be filtered out, then dissolved and measured spectrophotometrically. This was demonstrated using a cationic iron complex with a nitrocellulose membrane filter which was soluble in the 2-methoxyethanol used for the spectrophotometric measurement (53). 

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