| Abstract |
The objective was to derive detonation data for hazards analysis and for related safety design of facilities for manufacturing nitroguanidine by the urea/ammonium nitrate (U/AN) and the British aqueous fusion (BAF) processes. Critical diameter, propagation, sensitivity, and thermal characteristics of a number of mixtures and compounds, representative of selected streams in the processes, were determined. Critical diameter tests indicate that streams from the Evaporator Outlet, Mixed Reactor Feed, and the Liquid Reactor Outlet of the U/AN process will propagate when initiated with a booster and that they are mass-detonable. Thermal analysis tests on the stream mixtures indicate that they do not react violently when being heated to elevated temperatures but they do thermally decompose under these conditions. Propagation test results show that certain streams, peculiar to the U/AN process, propagate when detonated. However, propagation in 5.08 cm (2 in.) pipes was not complete on any mixture containing 25 percent or more water. The results also show that the process streams in the wet guanidine nitrate buildings, used in the BAF process, are not detonable; this is also true of cold melts (molten mixtures allowed to cool) in event of plant shutdown. The sensitivity (hazard) data on guanidine nitrate shows it is a relatively low-order explosive when compared to TNT, but that it is mass detonable. (Author) |
