Rhodium, as is the usual case, is correct. the percent yeild really isn't that bad (10% of nitroethane by volume) considering the recycling for repeated attempts for converting the rest of the nitrite. However, the article stated that it took 4-5 HOURS to pass a relatively small (less than a liter) of nitrite through. if one had a continuous still (dangerous) aurelius could see the benifit. But as Rhodium stated- not for small scale.