Enshrouded 1.0: How to Get Nitrate at the Laboratory

Nitrate is an alchemical material you craft at the Laboratory, the Alchemist’s production station in Enshrouded. The item text calls it “An alchemical acid used to create explosive substances.” and it feeds a range of recipes across several crafting stations. To make it yourself, you first unlock the Laboratory through an Alchemist quest, then load it with four ingredients.

Quick answer: At the Laboratory, combine Shroud Sand (5), Wood Acid (1), Salt (1) and Sand (5) for a batch of 5 Nitrate.

Nitrate recipe at the Laboratory

You can put Fine Sand, Veilwater Basin Sand or Cinder’s Cradle Sand in place of regular Sand.

Ingredient	Amount
Shroud Sand	5
Wood Acid	1
Salt	1
Sand (or Fine Sand, Veilwater Basin Sand, Cinder’s Cradle Sand)	5
Nitrate produced	5

Unlock the Laboratory first

The Laboratory is not available until you complete the Alchemist quest “Scientific Instruments For A Laboratory”. Work through the following to reach it.

Take the quest from the Alchemist. He needs Scientific Instruments, which his old friend Loraine Crim used for her research.

Trace the trail. Her note says she was examining an Ancient Dam; when vultures attacked her camp, the Scientific Instruments were dropped there. The location appears on your map.

Return the Scientific Instruments to the Alchemist and craft the Laboratory. The recipe needs 1 Scientific Instruments, 1 Athanor, 40 Fired Bricks, 10 Copper Bars and 3 Glass. The Athanor itself is built at the Alchemist from 10 Glass, 10 Bronze Bars and 5 Lump of Clay.

Scientific Instruments For A Laboratory quest, Craft A Laboratory objective — The Craft A Laboratory objective: build the station once you have the Scientific Instruments and the other materials in hand. Shown at 00:14 in HeRo Survival Guides’s video. Image: Keen Games GmbH

Place the Laboratory in your base. Nitrate now appears in its output list.

Laboratory output list with Nitrate — Nitrate selected in the Laboratory output list, with its ingredient requirements shown. Shown at 00:23 in HeRo Survival Guides’s video. Image: Keen Games GmbH

Where to gather the four ingredients

Shroud Sand — commonly found in the Kindlewastes. You can also make it at the Laboratory from 10 Sandstone + 5 Acidic Mycelium, which yields 100 Shroud Sand.
Wood Acid — produced as a byproduct in a Charcoal Kiln. For 10 Wood Acid, process 15 logs—Wood Logs or another type—with 3 Dirt from any region.
Salt — You can obtain it in the Egerton Salt Mines or from Hollow enemies.
Sand — Mine desert sand in the Kindlewastes. Fine Sand, Veilwater Basin Sand or Cinder’s Cradle Sand work as alternatives.

Craft Nitrate

Open the Laboratory, load the four ingredients and select Nitrate from the output list. Each batch returns 5 Nitrate.

Nitrate being made at the Laboratory — Nitrate being produced at the Laboratory, with its ingredients and the progress bar visible. Shown at 00:36 in HeRo Survival Guides’s video. Image: Keen Games GmbH

What Nitrate is used for

Nitrate is a component in several recipes across different stations. Here are the quantities each one needs.

Recipe	Station	Nitrate used	Yield
Black Powder: combine 7 Nitrate with 1 Sulfur and 2 Coal Powder.	Laboratory	7	1
Fertilised Farm Soil (2 Fossilized Bone Dust, 3 Nitrate, 10 Sand, 10 Farm Soil)	Farmer	3	10
Aloe Seedling: make it from 1 Aloe, 1 Nitrate and 1 Sand.	Seedbed	1	10
Mauveine: the ingredients are 5 Tar, 1 Shroud Vapor, 1 Nitrate and 1 Sulfur.	Laboratory	1	5
Shroud Meteor: the recipe uses 5 Nitrate, Sulfur, Coal Powder, Stone and Mist of a Fell Sicklescythe.	Alchemist	5	50

On top of those, 11 dyes at the Coloring Station each take 1 Nitrate.