Ammonium Nitrate IEs

Historically, and to this day, terrorists tend to utilize fertilizer precursors in their explosive production for large-scale charges. The ready availability of these materials in large quantities, coupled with the low cost per pound, makes them attractive to many bomb makers. It needs to be stressed that bomb makers will utilize what they have at their ready disposal. Most of the ingredients they adapt to their nefarious purposes will have legitimate uses. Fertilizers are common materials found throughout the entire world. With minimal processing they have shown themselves to be effective weapons in the terrorist arsenal. 

The same qualities that make ANFO an attractive explosive for commercial applications also draw terrorists to it. It is easy to prepare and can be made from cheap readily available ingredients. Because of this, ANFO has been utilized in terrorist attacks worldwide for many years. It has been one of the most common IEs utilized in large-scale bomb attacks. 

When producing an improvised explosive from AN, there are four basic options dictated by the nature of the starting materials. The AN used can either be prilled or powdered. The fuels used can be either solid or liquid. In theory, the use of molten AN or gaseous fuels is possible, but the odds are really not in favor of it. Thus the four obvious combinations for improvised formulations are  

AN plus a liquid fuel, and (4) powdered AN plus a solid fuel. Each combination has unique characteristics, which will be covered separately. 

Probably the most rare combination is the mixture of AN prills with a solid fuel. To get a good reaction between a fuel and an oxidizer an intimate mixture is needed. This is why monomolecular explosives (with fuel and oxidizer on the same molecule) tend to have higher detonation velocities than composite explosives (where fuel and oxidizer are two separate components). This is also why grain dust explosions occur yet, a pile of wheat is not easy to light on fire. Mixing any solid fuel with prills of AN (which are inch in diameter) will obviously not produce a very good mixture of reactive components. 

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Sodium chloride Ammonium chloride 1. . Sodium chloride ) Ammonium nitrate I, . Sodium chloride J Calcium chloride hexahydrate 33 20 40 41.6 41.6 143 —21.2 -30.0 —40.0 —55.0... 

Some nitramines may be prepared without treating amines with nitric acid. The classical example is the so-called E-method of cyclonite preparation in which a nitramine is formed by dehydration of a mixture of paraformaldehyde and ammonium nitrate, i.e. without using either amine or nitric acid (this will be discussed more fully on p. 109). When a nitramine is required with a non-nitrated aromatic ring which readily undergoes nitration with nitric acid, Bamberger s method [45], involving the oxidation of diazo compounds (13), may be applied. 

Table XV.5 shows the rather dramatic change in Xeq for the dissociation of tetrisoamyl ammonium nitrate, (i-Am4N)+N03 ", with dielectric constant in mixtures of H2O and dioxane. Although it is possible to get much better agreement with the conductance data by using slightly different values of the case shown is used to emphasize the essential correctness of the method. Note also that no account has been taken of the preferential solvation of ions by one of the two solvents. The Fuoss and Kraus treatment also gives a simple model for the calculation of ion triplet and quadruplet concentrations.

Oxidation of the nickel carbonyl-cyclooctyne complex (3) with ceric ammonium nitrate (I, 120 121 2. 63-65 3, 44-45 this volume) followed by addition of tetra-phenylcyclopentadienone (I, 1149 1150) affords (4) as a minor product. The major product is the trimcric cyclooctyne (5). 

The high price of aluminium powder and its liability to oxidise prematurely have militated against its more general adoption. Ammonal is an explosive containing aluminium powder, and a similar mixture has been used in Austria-Hungary for several years for filling shells. The latter has approximately the following composition 47 per cent, ammonium nitrate, I per cent, charcoal, 30 per cent, trinitro-toluene, and 22 per cent, aluminium. It is compressed, heated to 67 O., dipped in molten trinitro-toluene, and cooled in a stream of air. 

Ammonium nitrate I lygroscopicity of ammonium nitrate Chemical and explosive properties I Ivdrazinc nitrates I lydrazinc mononitrate 11ydra/inc dinitrate... 

The activated form of the monomeric cation, namely the phenoxyl radical [Cu (tBuL )(N03)]can be obtained by treating the dinuclear complex [Cu2 (tBuL)2l(PE6)2 with ceric ammonium nitrate, i.e., (NH4)2[Ce (N03)6]... 

An oxidizer is combined with the fuel polymer and is made up from phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate, i.e., ammonium nitrate co-precipitated... 

Note, (i) Care should be taken to distinguish between a residue of carbon which may be very difficult to bum off completely, and a really non-volatile residue due to the presence of a metallic derivative. Thus for instance starch leaves a hard black residue of carbon which can best be burned away by moistening with a saturated solution of ammonium nitrate and then reheating. 

Sodium nitrate is used as a fertiliser and in a number of industrial processes. In the period from 1880—1910 it accounted for 60% of the world fertiliser nitrogen production. In the 1990s sodium nitrate accounts for 0.1% of the world fertiliser nitrogen production, and is used for some specific crops and soil conditions. This decline has resulted from an enormous growth in fertiliser manufacture and an increased use of less expensive nitrogen fertilisers (qv) produced from synthetic ammonia (qv), such as urea (qv), ammonium nitrate, ammonium phosphates, ammonium sulfate, and ammonia itself (see Ammonium compounds). The commercial production of synthetic ammonia began in 1921, soon after the end of World War I. The main industrial market for sodium nitrate was at first the manufacture of nitric acid (qv) and explosives (see Explosives and propellants). As of the mid-1990s sodium nitrate was used in the production of some explosives and in a number of industrial areas. 

A specific polymorph may be absolutely essential for a crystalline product, for example, one polymorph may have a more desirable color or greater hardness or disperse in water more easily than another polymorph. Often, one polymorphic form is more stable than another (for example, at 80°C the orthorhombic I form of ammonium nitrate is more stable than the trigonal form) at conditions to which a product is exposed. An interesting approach to... 

Acrolein Acetal (ir, i) By treating acrolein with ethyl orthoformate in the presence of ammonium nitrate. Fischer and Baer, Helv. Chim. Acta i8, 514 (1935). 

The solution in the left flask is stirred for 30 minutes after all the potassium amide has been added. The nitrogen inlet is briefly removed and 120 g. (1.5 moles) of ammonium nitrate is added this discharges the ehartreuse color. (Caution Vigorous foaming occurs.) Ethyl ether (500 ml.) is added and the dry iee condenser is replaced by a standard water-cooled condenser. I he ammonia is evaporated by allowing the stirred reaction mixture to warm to room temperature this takes several hours iti(l it is convenient to have it occur overnight. 

The term manufacture also includes coincidental production of a toxic chemical (e.g., as a byproduct or impurity) as a result of the manufacture, processing, use, or treatment of other chemical substances. In the case of coincidental production of an impurity (i.e., a chemical that remains in the product that is distributed in commerce), the de minimis limitation, discussed on page 11, applies. The de minimis limitation does not apply to byproducts (e.g., a chemical that is separated from a process stream and further processed or disposed). Certain listed toxic chemicals may be manufactured as a result of wastewater treatment or other treatment processes. For example, neutralization of acid wastewater can result in the coincidental manufacture of ammonium nitrate (solution). 

The part of the mainland within the area covered by the investigation is not rcsidcniial. hui primarily industrial. The two large oil refineries belonging to Shell UK Oil and Mobil Oil Coinpany Limited are located on the riverside. The liquefied petroleum gases cylinder (LPG) filling plant of C.ilor Gas Limited is north of the refineries. Fisons Limited s ammonium nitrate plant i in i c cstern part of the area. 

Samal et al. [25] reported that Ce(IV) ion coupled with an amide, such as thioacetamide, succinamide, acetamide, and formamide, could initiate acrylonitrile (AN) polymerization in aqueous solution. Feng et al. [3] for the first time thoroughly investigated the structural effect of amide on AAM polymerization using Ce(IV) ion, ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) as an initiator. They found that only acetanilide (AA) and formanilide (FA) promote the polymerization and remarkably enhance Rp. The others such as formamide, N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), N-butylacetamide, and N-cyclohexylacetamide only slightly affect the rate of polymerization. This can be shown by the relative rate (/ r), i.e., the rate of AAM polymerization initiated with ceric ion-amide divided by the rate of polymerization initiated with ceric ion alone. Rr for CAN-anilide system is approximately 2.5, and the others range from 1.04-1.11. 

Carboxylic acids, a-bromination of 55, 31 CARBOXYLIC ACID CHLORIDES, ketones from, 55, 122 CARBYLAMINE REACTION, 55, 96 Ceric ammonium nitrate [Ammonium hexa mtrocerate(IV)[, 55, 43 Chlorine, 55, 33, 35, 63 CHROMIUM TRIOXIDE-PYRIDINE COMPLEX, preparation in situ, 55, 84 Cinnamomtnle, a-phenyl- [2-Propeneni-tnle 2,3-diphenyl-], 55, 92 Copper(l) iodide, 55, 105, 123, 124 Copper thiophenoxide [Benzenethiol, copper(I) salt], 55, 123 CYCLIZATION, free radical, 55, 57 CYCLOBUTADIENE, 55, 43 Cyclobutadieneiron tricarbonyl [Iron, tn-carbonyl(r)4-l,3-cyclo-butadiene)-], 55,43... 

Finally, epoxides can be converted into other functional groups under certain well-defined conditions. For example, ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) catalyzes the efficient conversion of epoxides to thiiranes (i.e., 124 125) at room temperature in te/t-butanol <96SYN821>. 

Ammonium nitrate based products manufactured chemically for use as fertilizers which comply with Council Directive 80/876/EEC and compound fertilizers where the nitrogen content derived from the ammonium nitrate >28 >[Pg.9]

Yellow phosphorus ignites in molten ammonium nitrate, and mixtures of phosphorus with ammonium nitrate, mercuiy(I) nitrate or silver nitrate explode on impact. Red phosphorus is oxidised vigorously when heated with potassium nitrate [1]. During development of new refining agents for aluminium manufacture, a mixture containing red phosphorus (16%) and sodium nitrate (35%) was being pressed into 400 g tablets. When the die pressure was increased to 70 bar, a violent explosion occurred [2],... 

Iodoform Iodomethane Iron disulfide Isothiourea Ketones Lactonitrile Lead Acetone, lithium, mercury(II) oxide, mercury(I) chloride, silver nitrate Silver chlorite, sodium Water, powdered pyrites Acrylaldehyde, hydrogen peroxide, nitric acid Aldehydes, nitric acid, perchloric acid Oxidizing materials Ammonium nitrate, chlorine trifluoride, hydrogen peroxide, sodium azide and carbide, zirconium, oxidants... 

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