Nitrosyl chloride is produced as a by-product; it bubbles out of the solution as a gas.
More conveniently, the salt can be made by reacting nitric acid with aluminium hydroxide.
Aluminium nitrate may also be prepared a metathesis reaction between aluminium sulfate and a nitrate salt with a suitable cation such as barium, strontium, calcium, silver, or lead.
It is used in tanning leather, antiperspirants, corrosion inhibitors, extraction of uranium, petroleum refining, and as a nitrating agent.
These salts are used to produce alumina for preparation of insulating papers, in cathode ray tube heating elements, and on transformer core laminates.