Uses for Formic Acid

Great for killing the mites, that are killing the bee's...

What you want are Wood Ants....

That's an interesting concept. Over 99% of formic acid is currently produced in Asia (mainly China) and in Europe. Out of 720000 tonnes produced annually, less than 1000 tonnes is produced on other continents.

There are several production methods, but no mention of extraction from insects. HCOOH is a fairly simple chemical, and I'm wondering if insect extraction is economically competitive with chemical production.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formic_acid

I do not know the feasibility of this,but I have seen these fire ant mounds stretch for hundreds of miles along the interstate I-40,spaced about 50 ft apart.

There are approximately 250,000 ants per colony,average.

If each ant weighs approximately 1 gram,that works out to approximately 500 lbs per colony.

Even if only 10% is acid,that's 50 lbs per colony and at 100 colonies per mile,it could add up quickly.

I don't know how much formic acid is in each ant,but it might be worth studying.

Perhaps a little genetic modification would be necessary...?

that's crazy that there are that many colonies down south. i hope they dont like cold weather.. i remember my first experience with them.. dropped my drawers in the middle of the street in residential La town. was doing water leak detection for a town, evedently the little buggers took up residence in a meter vault. before i knew it, my junk started stinging as if i had fiberglass underwear.

kiler bees, fire ants, scorpions, rattlesnakes, cottonmouths..geez what did i leave out? i will take a little snow anyday then deal with all that.

to answer the question for uses..i remember using formic acid years ago to reduce platinum and iridium from an acid salt. i had a process to coat small dia. ceramic fibers with a thin noble metal layer for oxide ceramic composites..

i think bees also inject this when they sting ya, could be wrong.. been a while since i messed with this stuff.

Unfortunately, fire ants are not of the family Formicinae, the only family of ant that produces formic acid in appreciable quantities as venom.

You are right..they produce an alkaloid venom.

Guess that blows my idea right out of the water.But,if you get within 100ft of a fire ant mound ,it smells like a freshly cut,hot Formica sheet.

Perhaps they have mutated?

I wonder if there is any use for the alkaloids?

Anyway,probably not a lucrative venture.

There are several piperidines in fire ant venom. Solenopsin is considered the main toxin, though several closely related peperidines may contribute to the sting effects.

Solenopsins have been researched for a wide variety of effects from treating psoriasis to cancer, as well (oddly enough) solenopsins show insecticidal properties as well as antibacterial film properties.

Apparently the mix of closely related chemicals in fire ant venom makes obtaining pure solenopsins a difficult task.

Harvesting red ants for their formic acid has a long history - here's a 1907 newspaper report of the plan:
Los Angeles Herald, 2 July 1907 article

But the idea goes back even further. Large scale Asian synthesis of formic acid saves plenty of ant souls, compared with formic acid that was first extracted in 1671 by the English naturalist John Ray by distilling a large number of crushed ants.
To save all those ant souls, I prefer the 1907 method of washing the acid from harvested ant nest sand, leaving the ants to rebuild the nest. Tread carefully, PETA is watching!
https://www.peta.org/living/humane-home/tips-humane-nontoxic-ant-control/

I don't hate ants,but these are an invasive species.(I will not try to eliminate them from South America.)

(Aunts are important...without aunt holes we would not have cousins)

Personally I like the idea! I'm sure a fair amount of research would be required to work out logistics of getting at colonies affordably, in that the easiest colonies would quickly die out requiring more effort to find new harder to reach colonies. With that said having been bit by a few over a life time, I don't like them anyway.

I've heard you can eat those ants, but you may have a problem with the ant acid.

IMHO:

A good home remedy for insect stings,bites,etc. from an elderly friend of mind is this and it works for me:

Hand cream,any brand, and Ammonia.

Approx25% ammonia to 75% hand cream.Ratio not critical.

Shake well before each application.

The ammonia neutralizes the venom,and the hand cream prevents skin drying out.

Works better than the sting sticks,which are basically ammonia.And it is a lot cheaper too.

I wonder if an anteater will eat fire ants?

Tex-mex ant eater tacos. Pre seasoned.

.? So.. can a formica countertop be processed to produce hydrogen?

I hate those counters. And there are also 500 per mile in most communities.

Perhaps the <...they...> might work on a combined mass and energy balance calculation to assess viability, the way that a qualified Process Engineer might. That would be a worthy consideration, together with the Energy Cost of Energy Supply, as well as sustainability issues.

One can, in principle, obtain hydrogen from anything that contains it. The easiest feedstock to harvest, is water, which doesn't depend on mining anthills. Repeating the above assessment on water might suggest its preference on economic grounds. Formic acid is a solution looking for a problem.

It pays to remember that hydrogen is only a carrying and storage technique, much like electricity.