Radford

E. T. Kristoff andj. y Hazards ylnalysis Study of the Continuous TNT Manufacturing Plants, U.S. Army Radford Ammunition Plant,... 

Continuous Solvent—Extrusion Process. A schematic for a typical continuous process, widely used for making solvent propellant for cannons, is shown in Figure 7. This continuous process produces ca 1100 metric tons of single-base propellant per month at the U.S. Army Ammunition Plant (Radford, Virginia). Continuous processes have also been developed for double- and triple-base propellants and for stick as well as granular geometries. A principal aspect of these processes has been the extensive use of single- and double-screw extmders instead of the presses used in the batch process. 

The main features in which the Radford process differs from the batch operation are in thermal dehydration and compounding. Water-wet nitrocellulose on a continuous vacuum belt filter is vacuum-dried followed by hot air transfusion (80°C) to reduce the moisture to less than 2%. After cooling, alcohol is sprayed on the nitrocellulose to a concentration of 15—20%. The alcohol-wet nitrocellulose is then transferred from a surge feeder to a compounder by a continuous weigh-belt along with the other ingredients of the composition, which are also weighed and added automatically. 

M Continuous Automated Cannon PropellantFacility, Radford Army Ammunition Plant, Radford, Va., 1970. 

For fully developed incompressible cocurrent upflow of gases and liquids in vertical pipes, a variety of flow pattern terminologies and descriptions have appeared in the hterature some of these have been summarized and compared by Govier, Radford, and Dunn Can. J. Chem. Eng., 35, 58-70 [1957]). One reasonable classification of patterns is illustrated in Fig. 6-28. 

A key success factor for reducing the costs and lead times for vehicle manufacturers, for example, is the degree of integration of the suppliers within the product development process. This is seen as a natural extension to concurrent engineering principles (Wyatt et al., 1998). For many years, in engineering companies, a substantial proportion of the finished product, typically two thirds, consists of components or subassemblies produced by suppliers (Noori and Radford, 1995). 

Noori, H. and Radford, R. 1995 Production and Operations Management Total Quality and Responsiveness. NY McGraw-Hill. 

Ibid, Vol 18, Radford Army Ammunition Plant 19) Ibid, Vol 19, Ravenna Army Ammunition Plant 20) Ibid, Vol 20, River-bank Army Ammunition Plant 21) Ibid,... 

The Hercules continuous TNT process is the basis for three continuous TNT lines which went into operation at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant in Virginia in 1968. The lines were designed by CIL and represent improvements... 

The most recent UK Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF) continuous process for the manuf of TNT is described by Thomas (Ref 90b). It uses a novel method of achieving continuous counter-current contacting between heavy and light phases in the trinitration section and some of the washing stages . The plant is also designed to operate based on the use of 96—100% sulfuric acid in the trinitration stage instead of the oleum used at Radford TNT Purification. 

The most recent major expln in a US TNT plant occurred in May 1974 at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant. The accident completely destroyed one of the three continuous nitration lines at the plant. According to the AMC News, Sept 1974, the investigation board reported that an operator inadvertently introduced a 5 to 6-foot rubber hose to clean out unwanted material that had collected in a transfer line leading to the nitrator, when the hose was pulled from his hands into the nitrator. This resulted in a rapid temp rise and subsequent explosion. The hose was commonly used in this manner . The material causing the blockage in the transfer line was believed to be an oxidation product of TNT, 2,2 -dicarboxy-3,3, 5,5,-tetra-nitroazoxybenzene, also referred to as White Compound. The introduction of the rubber hose caused a rapid, exothermic oxidation reaction between the hose material and the mixed acid present. The heat generated by this reaction caused a local acceleration of the normal nitration/oxidation reactions which occur in the nitrator until a critical temp was reached, at which point rapid oxidation of DNT/TNT proceeded as a runaway reaction, igniting the material present in the vessel. 

Study of Radford TNT Plant , Interim TR No 2, Chem Systs Inc, NY (1971) 7) Ibid, Interim... 

Price S. Weissman, Investigation of Damaged Pre-Engineered Building at Radford Army Ammunition Plant , PATR 4755 (1975) 29) C.A. 

Govier, G. W Radford. B. A. and Dunn, J. S. C Canatl. J. Chem. Eng. 55 (1957) 58, The upwards vertical flow of air-water mixtures I. Effect Of air and water rates on flow pattern, hold-up and pressure drop. 

Aggeli A, Bell M, Boden N, Keen JN, Knowles PF, McLeish TCB, Pitkeathly M, Radford SE (1997) Nature 386 259... 

Yang JJ, Pitkeathly M, Radford SE (1994) Far-uv circular-dichroism reveals a conformational switch in a peptide fragment Irom the beta-sheet of hen lysozyme. Biochemistry 33 7345-7353... 

Colin G. Francis Scott Lipera, Pascale D. Morand, Peter R. Morton, John Nash, and Peter P. Radford... 

Smith, Catherine. "Mysticism and feminism." In Women of spirit female leadership in the Jewish and Christian traditions, eds. Rosemary Radford Ruether and Eleanor McLaughlin. New York , 1979. 

Water Collect water sample acidify strip sample with helium collect gas in nitrogen-cooled trap. GC/FPD 0.6 imol/g NR Radford-Knoery and Cutter 1993... 

GC/FPD has been used to measure hydrogen sulfide, free disulfide, and dissolved metal sulfide complexes in water (Radford-Knoery and Cutter 1993). Hydrogen sulfide was measured in the headspace of the sample (100 mL) with a detection limit of 0.6 pmol/L. A detection limit of 0.2 pmol/L was obtained for total dissolved sulfide. This method allows for the determination of the concentration of free sulfide that is in equilibrium with hydrogen sulfide. Complexed sulfide can be estimated from the difference between total dissolved sulfide and free sulfide. 

Radford-Knoery J, Cutter GA. 1993. Determination of carbonyl sulfide and hydrogen sulfide species in natural waters using specialized collection procedures and gas chromatography with flame photometric detection. Anal Chem 65 976-982. 

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