MINIMIZING THE EXPLOSION ENTHALPY OF AMMONIUM NITRATE WITH POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL AND CARBOXYMETHYL CELLULOSE TO PREVENT TERRORIST ATTACKS

Abstract

The use of ammonium nitrate due to its high nitrogen content (> 26%) has made it the most utilized fertilizer in agricultural areas. However, being easily accessible with this feature encouraged its use for different purposes. Ammonium nitrate is usually produced with large tonnage (> 50 ton/h) and high cost (> $20 million) production processes. Therefore, any changes that can be made in the process must be applied in the process so that the result can be achieved easily without increasing the cost in any way. In this study, it is aimed to reduce the explosion sensitivity of ammonium nitrate used for explosive purposes in terrorist attacks. Thus, it was aimed to solve the problem by adding various chemicals to the ammonium nitrate production process so that it can only be used for agricultural purposes. For this purpose, the production process was examined by adding carboxymethyl cellulose and polyethylene glycol to the ammonium nitrate production process and the accuracy of the results was tested by instrumental analysis methods.