As a chemist, I am a bit confused... pure ammonia is a gas and is very dangerous to work with. I am guessing that you are referring to a solution of ammonia in water. The ammonia reacts with the water to form ammonium hydroxide. This solution is commonly, but incorrectly, called ammonia.
The solution is sold at various concentrations up to 28 or 30%, at most. I assume that it is this solution that you are referring to.
If you can provide the concentration of your ammonia solution and the recipe for your fixer, I may be able to adapt the recipe to use the 6% solution which others have said is still available. This would entail replacing some of the water in the recipe with the more dilute ammonia solution so that the concentrations of the various components remain the same.
Is standard Amonium Thiosulfate, either the raw chemical or mixed up as rapid fixer, still available in Canada? I am guessing you are making a DIY rapid fixer from the S. Thiosulfate and Ammonia.
I'm also looking for a replacement for 24-28% ammonia solution in Canada for alternative processes, which appears to be inaccessible for regular purchase. Is this not available in Canada at all outside of specialty chemical suppliers?
Edit: it appears that as long as you are looking for ammonium hydroxide, which is just ammonia in water (as stated from a post above) you can purchase 28% ammonium hydroxide from Westlab here in Vancouver.
If I use the ammonium hydroxide from Westlab, would any of you know if I would have to modify the amount of the ammonium hyrdroxide in the fixer formula? Currently I am using 50ml of concentrated ammonia in a litre of water. Thank you!
Here's its PDF
Would have to know what is the concentration of your concentrated ammonia in the original recipe.
A 28% solution of ammonia is about as concentrated as ammonia comes. This solution is actually quite caustic and I would be bv surprised if it was available as a consumer product. Here in the US, consumer grade ammonia is about 10%.
If your original solution was really 28%, then the product whose data sheet you posted earlier can be used as a direct replacement for your original solution.
If your original solution was really about 10%, you woul need to use only 0.36 volume of the proposed replacement (10/38 = 0.36). Thus instead of using 50 mL, you would use 18 mL and make up the rest with water.
Alternately, you could use the 6% solution mentioned earlier in this thread. In this case, you would use 4.7 times more (28/6 = 4.7) of the new solution, assuming your original solution was 28%. In other words, you would use 235 mL of the replacement and reduce the amount of water by 235-50=185 mL.
If your original solution was only 10%, the adjustment factor would be 1.7 (10/6=1.7) and you would add 85 mL (1.7×50=85) of the 6% solution while reducing the water by 85-50=35 mL.
Not knowing, for sure, what the actual concentration of the solution you are trying to replace means that you will need to experiment.
I wish I kept the bottle.. but I believe it was 28%...
Edit: actually I'm not sure. I can tell you that it was household ammonia I bought at a supermarket. So, % was probably quite low.
I think I now understand what you meant by "pure" ammonia - meaning ammonia without any other ingredients like scent, surfactants etc.
Curious about your rapid fixer formula. Don't you need ammonium chloride and not ammonium hydroxide to make ammonium thiosulfate?
:Niranjan.
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