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Ammonium nitrate is an important fertilizer with NPK rating 34-0-0 (34% nitrogen). [17] It is less concentrated than urea (46-0-0), giving ammonium nitrate a slight transportation disadvantage. Ammonium nitrate's advantage over urea is that it is more stable and does not rapidly lose nitrogen to the atmosphere.
ANFO (/ ˈ æ n f oʊ / AN-foh) [1] (or AN/FO, for ammonium nitrate/fuel oil) is a widely used bulk industrial high explosive. It consists of 94% porous prilled ammonium nitrate (NH 4 NO 3) (AN), which acts as the oxidizing agent and absorbent for the fuel, and 6% number 2 fuel oil (FO). [2] The use of ANFO originated in the 1950s. [3]
Prilled is a term used in mining and manufacturing to refer to a product that has been pelletized. ANFO explosive typically comprises ammonium nitrate prills mixed with #2 fuel oil . [ 2 ] The pellets are a neater, simpler form for handling, with reduced dust.
Examples of common binary explosives include Oxyliquit (liquid oxygen/combustible powder), ANFO (ammonium nitrate/fuel oil), Kinestik (ammonium nitrate/nitromethane), Tannerite and ammonal (ammonium nitrate/aluminum), and FIXOR (nitroethane/physical sensitizer).
In response to changes in mining technology, the product line expanded to include blasting agents based on ammonium nitrate and nitric acid in the 1940s. [7] Ammonium nitrate was produced from anhydrous ammonia and air (the DuPont process) beginning in the 1950s. [7] The original nitroglycerine-based products were phased out by 1983. [2]
It is a mainstay of the modern chemical industry and provides the raw material for the most common type of fertilizer production, globally (for example, ammonium nitrate, a common fertilizer, is made by reacting ammonia with nitric acid).
Ammonium compounds are used not only for fertilisers, but also explosives. Billingham-on-Tees was a small village in 1917, when its Grange Farm was chosen to be the site of a large chemical works. On 22 March 1918, the Minister of Munitions approved the site to be developed as a factory that would make ammonium nitrate. [1]
CF Industries Holdings, Inc. is an American manufacturer and distributor of agricultural fertilizers, including ammonia, urea, and ammonium nitrate products. The company is based in Northbrook, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, [3] and was founded in 1946 as the Central Farmers Fertilizer Company.