(40j) Research of Thermal Runaway Reaction on Ammonium Nitrate

Ammonium nitrate (AN) is a hazardous material, which had toxic, highly soluble in water, and produces a large of exothermic reaction when burned. In recent years, many explosion accidents induced by AN in Taiwan and other countries. AN causes serious casualties and property losses in the world. Whenever an incident occurs, labor safety and health, process and environmental conditions must be discussed. which also necessary to further understand the process hazards and process risk of AN, and had fire-fighting facilities during storage.

This study focused on the safety of AN process and added incompatible materials, such as acids (nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid), alkalis (sodium hydroxide) and iron. The runaway reaction is estimated based on the heat of reaction, and the safety parameters were calculated based on its kinetic parameters. We employed the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and the advanced reactive system screening tool (ARSST) for thermal analysis. Research results could provide safety information to AN process for safety environment.