Ammonium chloride. Application, storage and receipt

Ammonium chloride in packing for technical use (technical ammonium chloride) externally is a powdered product, delivery variants in the form of granules are possible. The color is yellow or pink, the color varies depending on the brand of product used. It perfectly dissolves in ammonia and water, it tastes salty, does not smell.

Mechanical engineering and non-ferrous metallurgy, chemical and electrotechnical, timber and woodworking, medical and many other industries use ammonium chloride in their technological processes. Ammonium chloride has found wide application in agriculture as a nitrogen fertilizer, metallurgy uses it in the process of metal etching. Domestic textiles would lose the brightness of the tissues, if it refused to use this compound. Ammonium chloride has found application in the manufacture of dry batteries, it perfectly copes with the tinning of steel parts with flux (ZnCl2). As a medical device, it is used in medications prescribed for edema, the nature of which is related to the work of the heart, also NH4Cl enhances the action of certain diuretics. The production of some varnishes and adhesives is based on the use of ammonium chloride in the hardeners.

Transportation and storage of NH4Cl in warehouses presupposes the packaging of this substance into paper combined multilayer bags or polyethylene bags. Their weight, as a rule, does not exceed 25 kg. It is also possible to use soft disposable specialized containers.

For transportation of ammonium chloride it is allowed to use a wide range of closed-type vehicles (except air). The use of soft specialized containers allows transportation by rolling stock of open type in the absence of transshipments on the route.

Premises in which it is supposed to store ammonium chloride should ensure that moisture does not reach it. The storage area must first be cleaned of protruding objects with sharp edges, which can damage the shell of the bags. In disposable specialized containers, the substance can be stored even in open areas.

During the production of soda, a by-product was ammonium chloride. The preparation of this substance is carried out by evaporation of the mother liquor. An independent reaction of NH4Cl synthesis is the interaction of ammonia with hydrochloric acid.

The study of the properties of NH4Cl under laboratory conditions requires reliable methods of determining its presence. A qualitative reaction to ammonium chloride, as a rule, determines the presence of NH4 + ammonium cation.

If during the interaction of the salt with alkali with slight heating, ammonia is released, then it is possible to say with certainty about the presence in the initial solution of the substance of the cation NH4 +. Ammonia vapor stains a moist litmus test paper, brought to the current of the released gas, into a blue color.

Determine the second component of NH4Cl, the chloride anion, by acting on the test solution with silver. As a result of the reaction, the appearance of a white cheesy precipitate indicates the deposition of silver chloride. Addition of sodium thiosulfate or ammonia to the solution with precipitate will lead to its dissolution.

Even in the textbook on inorganic chemistry of the secondary school course, you can find many available experiments to isolate the constituents of ammonium chloride, which indicates the relative safety of this substance for humans.

But neatness when handling it is necessary, since, getting on the skin or in the eyes, it can cause irritation. Danger can create toxic gaseous toxic ammonia (relates to the 4th hazard class), even small concentrations cause irritation of the mucous eyes and upper respiratory tract, high concentration leads to an exciting effect on the central nervous system.