Black powder
This article discusses the making of black powder. Black powder is usable for deconstruction, mining/excavation, and/or as a propellant for hunting equipment (flintlock weapons). The base ingredient (potassium nitrate) is also useful as an intermediate step for making other substances (ie acids, ... for battery production, fuels, ...).
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[edit] Making potassium nitrate
First, we'll discuss the making of potassium nitrate, which is the most essential ingredient in blackpowder. Potassium nitrate can be attained from any type of animal feces, the most common type of feces generally coming from cattle (as they are kept allready for food).
First, gather a large amount of cow, horse, ... feces. Add green plant matter and ash (wood ash, ie from willow, alder or buckthorn), or ash from burned thistles, worm wood, or tree bark) in a ratio of 1/2 feces, and 1/2 green plant matter (ie potato leaves, straw, ...) + ash. Mix the heap. The size of the heap will depend on the amount of potassium nitrate you want to produce; 1,5m high by 2 by 5 meters is a a good size, make sure the heap is fully exposed to the atmosphere on all sides. The heap we just made is known as a saltpeter bed. The heap should be set on a waterproof base so that the KNO3 doesn’t seep into the ground. A layer of plastic, plie wood or clay will work. Add a roof over it; ie by making use of a tarp.
Next, we need to add stale urine (or lant) to the heap atleast once a week for 4 to 5 months. Light yellowish crystals will form on the top surface of the heap. Stop poring lant over the pile and wait until you see a layer of potassium nitrate fluorescing over the surface 6 to 10 centimeters in thickness. Scrape off this top layer and put it in a bucket. Repeat the process on the heap, one layer at a time untill the heap needs replacing.
Once we've done the layer of "compost" in a bucket, we'll start on the extracting of the potassium nitrate. First, make several small holes in the bottom of a 25 liter bucket. Place a piece of cotton cloth over the holes in the bottom and put a 0,75 to 1,25 cm layer of fine wood ash ontop of it. Then, add another cotton cloth. This will act as a filter. Then fill up the 25 liter bucket by 75% with the "compost". Put the bucket on 2 wood/stone blocks and place a pan under it. Boil 10 liter of water. Slowly pour the boiling water over bucket and wait for the water to collect in the bottom of the pan.
Next pour the obtained liquid through a paper filter (ie coffee filter). It is important that the water is still close to boiling when filtered, so reheat if necessairy.
Once filtered (once or several times), you can boil most the water off and collect the potassium nitrate.[1][2][3][4]
Note that a variation on this process als exist, using only urine, straw and wood ash. It is described by LeConte in 1862. Stale urine is placed in a container of straw and is allowed to "sour" (bacterially ferment) for many months, after which water is used to wash the resulting chemical salts from the straw. The process is completed by filtering the liquid through wood ashes, then air-drying in the sun. The nitrate source in this process is calcium nitrate produced by bacterial action on the nitrogenous urea and ammonia from urine, combined with calcium from urine. This calcium nitrate salt is converted again in the standard way to soluble potassium nitrate, using potassium carbonate from potash. This method may also prove useful, especially since it may be easier to combine with recycling the rest of the nutrients. This, so the excess other minerals, ... may be returned to the soil for growing crops.
Lastly, a small note on the chemistry behind the regular process: Feces contains ammonia from the decomposition of urea and other nitrogenous materials. It then undergoes bacterial oxidation (first by means of the nitrosomonas bacteria) to produce (calcium) nitrite, and then (by means of the spirobacter bacteria) to produce (calcium) nitrate. It is then converted to potassium nitrate by filtering trough the potash of wood ashes.
[edit] Making charcoal and sulphur
Charcoal can be made by burning wood in a oxygen-poor environment, see Charcoal_making. Sulphur probably needs to be bought.
[edit] Making black powder
Black powder is made by combining the 3 elements discribed above. Several recipes are used, but the most common recipe is: 75% saltpetre (=potassium nitrate), 15% (wood) charcoal, 10% sulphur [5] Other recipes are: 74% saltpetre, 16% (wood) charcoal, 10% sulphur and 75% saltpetre, 12,5% (wood) charcoal, 12,5% sulphur [6]
To make the black powder, the 3 elements need to be combined in the appropriate ratio in a heat resistant bucket. The water is added and everything is mixed. The mixture is put on a heatsource, and stirring is continued until bubbles begin to form. It is then put off the heatsource, and poured into a bucket with ethanol, while the stirring is continued. It is then left to stand for minutes, and again poured into another bucket with a cloth filter untop. Then, the powder is squeezed out and pressed trough the bucket with the filter untop (but when this bucket is empty). It is then sun dried or dried with an external heat source in as little time as possible.[7][8]
