Abstract
Ammonium nitrate (AN) primarily is used as a fertilizer but it is also very important compound in the production of industrial explosives. The application of ammonium nitrate in the production of industrial explosives was related with the early era of Nobel dynamite and widely increased with the appearance of blasting agents such as ANFO and Slurry, in the middle of the last Century. Throughout the world millions of tons of ammonium nitrate are produced annually and handled without incident. Although ammonium nitrate generally is used safely, accidental explosions involving AN have high impact resulting in loss of lives and destruction of property. The paper presents the basic properties of ammonium nitrate as well as hazards in handling of ammonium nitrate in order to prevent accidents. Several accidents with explosions of ammonium nitrate resulted in catastrophic consequences are listed in the paper as examples of non-compliance with prescribed procedures.
Highlights
Ammonium nitrate (AN) has extensive use in the area of nitrogen fertilizers and explosives (Elvers, 1989; Suslick,1992)
The first production of ANFO by the system NALIM was on June 2nd, 1975 while the first filling with Slurry explosives - MAJDANIT was started on October 29th, 1976 in the mines of RTB Bor, Serbia (Kričak et al 2010)
For the purpose of transportation, ammonium nitrate with not more than 0.2% combustible substances, including any organic substance calculated as carbon, to the exclusion of any other added substance is classified as Class 5.1 (Oxidizers), (United Nations, 2009)
Summary
Ammonium nitrate (AN) has extensive use in the area of nitrogen fertilizers and explosives (Elvers, 1989; Suslick,1992). The first production of ANFO by the system NALIM was on June 2nd, 1975 while the first filling with Slurry explosives - MAJDANIT was started on October 29th, 1976 in the mines of RTB Bor, Serbia (Kričak et al 2010). The stage in the development of explosives was the invention of emulsion explosives and heavy ANFO as a mixture of emulsion and ANFO explosives. Bulk explosives such as ANFO, Slurry and heavy ANFO had the influence on rapid reduction of the production of dynamite and explosive sensitive powder explosives. Ammonium nitrate in crystalline form, porous prills/granules or as saturated aqueous solution is mainly used for the production of industrial explosives. The application of AN in the production of different types of explosives is presented in Table 1, (Kričak et al 2010)
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