Nitric acid

Nitric acid is a powerfully corrosive mineral acid and a strong oxidizer that converts metals, carbonates, hydroxides, and oxides into nitrate salts. Food factories rarely use it as a process chemical; its role is analytical, where hot concentrated acid digests food samples, destroying the organic matrix so that atomic spectroscopy can quantify trace metals and minerals. Industry at large consumes it for fertilizers, explosives, and dyes. In the laboratory it demands fume extraction, face and hand protection, and careful segregation from organics, and acidic waste streams are neutralized before discharge to protect drainage systems and treatment plants.