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Article: The other kind of AN. (Ammonium Nitrate).
- Article from:
- Nitrogen & Methanol
- Article date:
- September 1, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 BCInsight LTD. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Whatever its future as a fertilizer, ammonium nitrate will continue to be produced for technical uses. A safer alternative to conventional high explosives, it now forms the basis of the vast majority of commercial explosives for civilian use.
As last year's cataclysm at Toulouse reminded us, ammonium nitrate can be explosive, and that property is exploited commercially on quite a large scale. ANFO -- a composition of about 94% ammonium nitrate and 6% fuel oil -- is widely used as a civil explosive in mining, quarrying and tunnelling. Ironically, the reason for the growth of ammonium nitrate as the basis of civil explosives is that it is much safer than ...