Dr. Stone: How Platinum Can Create Nitric Acid

Senku says that platinum could be used to create an unlimited supply of nitric acid and, with it, revival fluid. Here's the basic science behind that.

At the end of Dr. Stone Season 2, the Kingdom of Science lost the Cave of Miracles, its only source of nitric acid. Without this chemical, they've lost their only known means of producing revival fluid. However, according to Senku, if they can acquire platinum on the upcoming Treasure Island, they can create as much nitric acid as they want.

What Senku is referring to is called the Ostwald process pioneered by Friedrich Wilhelm Ostwald in the early 20th century. It's commonly used as an industrial process to create nitric acid as a raw material for producing fertilizers and explosives. It's commonly associated with the Haber-Bosch process, which will become relevant much later in the story. For now, however, what's important is the Ostwald process and how platinum is going to make it possible.

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The first step of the Ostwald process is the oxidization of ammonia. The platinum is used as a catalyst for the process in conjunction with either 10% rhodium, silica wool, copper, or nickel; the Kingdom of Science doesn't have any rhodium or nickel yet, nor have they converted any silica into wool, but they should have plenty of copper. If the ammonia is heated with oxygen in the presence of the right catalyst, it should result in nitrogen monoxide and water vapor. The formula goes 4NH3 + 5O2 ↔ 4NO + 6H2O.

From here, nitric acid can be formed without the use of platinum. Nitrogen monoxide reacts with oxygen again to form nitrogen dioxide (2NO + O2 ↔2 NO2), which then reacts with water to form a dilute form of nitric acid (3NO2 + H2O -> 2HNO3 + NO). Additional distillation is done (4NO2+O2+2H2O-> 4HNO3). The end result is a yield of 98% nitric acid.

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Since catalysts like platinum exist at both the beginning and end of a chemical process, they can theoretically be used indefinitely. In reality, however, a catalyst should be expected to degrade and break down over time; it can only be reused if its remains are carefully collected and remade into its original form. Dr. Stone won't cover this aspect of their platinum catalyst in detail, but it's still important to keep real-world science in mind for practical purposes.

Of course, this all depends on the Kingdom of Science successfully getting its hands on the platinum in the first place. Not only will they have to locate the treasure chest that contains the platinum, but they'll also have to deal with the potentially hostile locals on the island. If they can properly take these factors into account and be ready for them, the new means of gaining limitless revival fluid will be as good as theirs.

Marc York is a writer for CBR. He possesses an understanding of comics, video games, and movies, and his true expertise comes forth when it comes to the topics of anime and manga. His knowledge spreads to the past, present, and future of both the anime and manga industry, especially when it pertains to titles under the Shonen Jump banner. Marc also likes to write about the movies he's watched in theaters; these aren't officially published articles, but they may be seen on his Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/marc.york.7