Ammonium nitrate continued

Oxidation of benzoin with concentrated nitric acid or by catalytic amounts of cupric salts in acetic acid solution, which are regenerated continuously by ammonium nitrate, yields the diketone benzil ... 

In the commonly used Welland process, calcium cyanamide, made from calcium carbonate, is converted to cyanamide by reaction with carbon dioxide and water. Dicyandiamide is fused with ammonium nitrate to form guanidine nitrate. Dehydration with 96% sulfuric acid gives nitroguanidine which is precipitated by dilution. In the aqueous fusion process, calcium cyanamide is fused with ammonium nitrate ia the presence of some water. The calcium nitrate produced is removed by precipitation with ammonium carbonate or carbon dioxide. The filtrate contains the guanidine nitrate that is recovered by vacuum evaporation and converted to nitroguanidine. Both operations can be mn on a continuous basis (see Cyanamides). In the Marquerol and Loriette process, nitroguanidine is obtained directly ia about 90% yield from dicyandiamide by reaction with sulfuric acid to form guanidine sulfate followed by direct nitration with nitric acid (169—172). 

Uranium ores are leached with dilute sulfuric acid or an alkaline carbonate [3812-32-6] solution. Hexavalent uranium forms anionic complexes, such as uranyl sulfate [56959-61-6], U02(S0 3, which are more selectively adsorbed by strong base anion exchangers than are other anions in the leach Hquors. Sulfate complexes are eluted with an acidified NaCl or ammonium nitrate [6484-52-2], NH NO, solution. Carbonate complexes are eluted with a neutral brine solution. Uranium is precipitated from the eluent and shipped to other locations for enrichment. Columnar recovery systems were popular in South Africa and Canada. Continuous resin-in-pulp (RIP) systems gained popularity in the United States since they eliminated a difficult and cosdy ore particle/leach hquor separation step. 

Pintsch-Bamag s Continuous Process for Production of Calcium Ammonium Nitrate," Nitrogen (28), 28 (1964). 

Initiation with only one portion of ceric amnoniiM nitrate (rather than with two portions added one hour apart) reduces both the conversion of monomer to polymer and the water absorbency of the fined product. Based on these results, starch in future reactions was gelatinized by heating for 60 min at 95 C, to more closely simulate conditions of continuous steam jet cooldng 02) r %diich would be used commercially. Also, polymerizations were initiated with two portions of ceric ammonium nitrate dissolved in IH HNQs, seponification mixtures were stirred continuously rather than intermitt Ttly (as a matter of convenience), and absorbent polymers were dried at 40 C. 

Variations in the conditions used for the nitrolysis of hexamine have a profound effect on the nature and distribution of isolated products, including the ratio of RDX to HMX. It has been shown that lower reaction acidity and a reduction in the amount of ammonium nitrate used in the Bachmann process increases the amount of HMX formed at the expense of Bachmann and co-workers ° were able to tailor the conditions of hexamine nitrolysis to obtain an 82 % yield of a mixture containing 73 % HMX and 23 % RDX. Continued efforts to provide a method for the industrial synthesis of HMX led Castorina and co-workers to describe a procedure which produces a 90 % yield of a product containing 85 % HMX and 15 % RDX. This procedure conducts nitrolysis at a constant reaction temperature of 44 °C and treats hexamine, in the presence of a trace amount of paraformaldehyde, with a mixture of acetic acid, acetic anhydride, ammonium nitrate and nitric acid. Bratia and co-workers ° used a three stage aging process and a boron trifluoride catalyst to obtain a similar result. A procedure reported by Picard " uses formaldehyde as a catalyst and produces a 95 % yield of a product containing 90 % HMX and 10 % RDX. 

After removing cerium (and thorium), the nitric acid solution of rare earths is treated with ammonium nitrate. Lanthanum forms the least soluble double salt with ammonium nitrate, which may be removed from tbe solution by repeated crystallization. Neodymium is recovered from this solution as the double magnesium nitrate by continued fractionation. 

Solid ammonium nitrate is very deliquescent in moist air, and it is very soluble in water. According to H. Lescceur10 and F. L. Kortright, at 20°, the salt absorbs moisture from the air if the vap. press, of the water is over 9 mm. The vap. press, of a sat. soln. has the same value. It is very difficult to dry the salt it can be obtained with less than 0 1 per cent, of moisture by exposure over phosphorus pentoxide at ordinary temp, in a desiccator. U. Behn observed a slight decomposition of the salt after it had stood a few days in the desiccator. This was evidenced by the smell of nitrogen oxides. If heated, the decomposition is quicker. If one limb of a U-tube containing the salt be heated to 100°, and the other limb be cooled to —79°, water is continuously collected, but the salt becomes no drier. 

The spent acid is distilled in order to separate acetic acid. The paste containing cyclonite and by-products that accumulate on the bottom of the retort is removed continuously, through a syphon overflow. The greater part of this mass (about 80%) is dissolved in acetic anhydride and returned to the reactor while the residue (about 20%) is mixed with ammonium nitrate to make cheap explosives. 

An important group within the ammonium nitrate explosives are emulsion explosives, which consist essentially of a water-in-oil emulsion of an aqueous solution, supersaturated at room temperature, in an oil matrix which is a fuel. The oil phase is the continuous phase and includes small droplets of the supersaturated solution of the oxidizing agent. 

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