Page 113 - Chemical and process design handbook

Speight_Part II_A 11/7/01 3:16 PM Page 2.54

2.54 MANUFACTURE OF CHEMICALS

Ammonia
Evaporator
Reactor Prilling tower

Nitric acid
(60%)

Screen
Ammonium
Dryer
nitrate

FIGURE 1 Manufacture of ammonium nitrate.

Water

Reactor and separator
Ammonia

Nitric acid Cooling chamber

Ammonium
Cooler
nitrate

FIGURE 2 Ammonium nitrate by the Stengel process.

Ammonium nitrate is used in explosives, and many commercial and
military explosives contain ammonium nitrate as the major explosive
ingredient. Ammonium nitrate is difficult to detonate, but, when sensitized
with oil or mixed with other explosive materials, it can be detonated with
a large booster-primer. Amatol is a mixture of trinitrotoluene (TNT) and
granular ammonium nitrate and is a major conventional military explosive.
The explosive ANFO is a mixture of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil.
Explosive decomposition causes ammonium nitrate to rapidly and vio-
lently decompose to form elemental nitrogen.