Dynamite 0

Nitroglycerine and dynamite succeeded black powder as the chief explosives. An Italian chemist, Ascanio Sobrero, invented NG in 1846 and the Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel invented dynamite in 1867, 

Nobel developed gelatinous dynamite in 1875 by making a jelly from the dissolution of a collodion-type nitrocotton in NG, producing a more powerful explosive than the straight dynamite and one that proved to be safer. Later ammonium nitrate was also used in dynamite, which made it even safer and less expensive to produce. 

Nowadays, Alfred Nobel is something of a celebrity and every year, when his prizes are awarded to scientists, authors and peace workers on the 10th of December, the public is reminded of this shy and intensely private man, who would surely have been made very uncomfortable and embarrassed by all the speeches of appreciation and homage given in his honor, had he been able to listen to them. The fact is that during his lifetime he was almost unknown to the general public and there is every reason to believe that this was the way he wanted it. Who was he then and what made him create the celebrated prizes that have made his name famous  

His feeling of loneliness was further intensified by the notion that he was a man without a homeland. He had been born in Sweden but between the age of nine and 16 he had lived in Russia. As an adult he had become increasingly a cosmopolitan with his headquarters in Paris where in 1875 he had acquired a house on Avenue Malakoff. Towards the end of his life he bought a villa in San Remo, Italy, and he also purchased a mansion in rural Sweden close to the Bofors 

While his personal life can hardly be described as a great success, his wealth continued to grow. Like King Midas everything that he touched seemed to turn into gold, even if there were also some economic setbacks. This was particularly true in France, where some of his associates in the French dynamite companies 

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Note 2. The uncomplexed base, commercially available from Nobel-Dynamit, G.F.R., was used. 

Nitroglycerin. Nitroglycerin (NG), glyceryl trinitrate [55-63-0] is primarily used as an explosive in dynamites and as a plasticizer... 

RigidPoly(vinylchloride) Foam. The techniques that have been used to produce rigid vinyl foams are similar to those for the manufacture of flexible PVC foams. The two processes that have reached commercial importance for the manufacture of rigid vinyl foams (246) are the Dynamit-Nobel extmsion process and the Kleber-Colombes Polyplastique process for producing cross-linked grafted PVC foams from isocyanate-modified PVC in a two-stage mol ding process. 

The Dynamit-Nobel extmsion process (252) utilizes a volatile plasticizer such as acetone which is injected into the decompression section of a two-stage screw and is uniformly dispersed in the vinyl resin containing a stabilizer. The resulting PVC foam has low density and closed cells. 

Most limestone quarries use either 100% ammonium nitrate [6484-52-2] (fertilizer grade) and fuel oil (ANFO), or a combination of ANFO and ammonium or gelatin dynamite, for blasting (see Explosives and propellants, explosives). After blasting, oversized boulders usually are reduced to manageable sizes by drop ball cranes. 

Hard rock mining of these ore bodies requkes drilling and blasting with ammonium nitrate and dynamite. After blasting, the ore is reduced in size with a drop ball and then loaded on tmcks for transportation to the processing plant. Mica, quartz, and feldspar concentrates are separated, recovered, and sold from the hard rock ore. 

Herm/es/Djnamit JS obe/Process. On a worldwide basis, the Hercules Inc./Dynamit Nobel AG process is the dorninant technology for the production of dimethyl terephthalate the chemistry was patented in the 1950s (67—69). Modifications in commercial practice have occurred over the years, with several variations being practiced commercially (70—72). The reaction to dimethyl terephthalate involves four steps, which alternate between liquid-phase oxidation and liquid-phase esterification. Two reactors are used. Eirst, -xylene is oxidized with air to -toluic acid in the oxidation reactor, and the contents are then sent to the second reactor for esterification with methanol to methyl -toluate. The toluate is isolated by distillation and returned to the first reactor where it is further oxidized to monomethyl terephthalate, which is then esterified in the second reactor to dimethyl terephthalate. 

Eigure 3 is a flow diagram which gives an example of the commercial practice of the Dynamit Nobel process (73). -Xylene, air, and catalyst are fed continuously to the oxidation reactor where they are joined with recycle methyl -toluate. Typically, the catalyst is a cobalt salt, but cobalt and manganese are also used in combination. Titanium or other expensive metallurgy is not required because bromine and acetic acid are not used. The oxidation reactor is maintained at 140—180°C and 500—800 kPa (5—8 atm). The heat of reaction is removed by vaporization of water and excess -xylene these are condensed, water is separated, and -xylene is returned continuously (72,74). Cooling coils can also be used (70). 

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