Will the CAN 27 fertilizers available at my supplier detonate without purification?

Evaluating fertilizers - optimal purity grade of Ammonium Nitrate

Normally, you would need a minimum of 32% nitrogen in the fertilizer in order to create “an optimal detonation”. However, 27% nitrogen fertilizers will do the job as well as long as you use a larger booster.

A rather confusing factor regarding the nitrogen value; 27% nitrogen (f example labeled as 27-0-0) does NOT mean that there is only 27% AN content. In most, if not all, N-fertilizers you will find aprox 80% AN content. In so called “CAN” fertilizer (Calcium Ammonium Nitrate) you will usually find approximately 75-80% AN and 20-25% Calcium.

One source I found states the following:

If the Nitrogen in the NH4NO3 is 30-33% then you need 5-10 g of booster.

If the Nitrogen in the NH4NO3 is 20-25% then you need 15-20 g of booster.

which indicates that lower purity nitrogen fertilizer will still detonate properly as long as you use a larger booster/blasting cap. For 50 kg of CAN (Calsium Ammonium Nitrate) I would use a 200-500 g booster. For 500 kg of can I would use a 500 g to 2 kg booster.

Despite more than 6 weeks of research, and reviewing hundreds of guides and a ton of forum posts, I was unable to confidently answer the following essential questions:

1. Will the following AN fertilizers (N-fertilizers) detonate without further purification or will the Calcium, Magnesium and Sulfur additives make the AN inert and thus unsuitable without purification?

2. Will the prills/granules of these specific fertilizers absorb diesel and/or nitromethane or has these products been compacted and treated with a compound that prevents absorption of liquid so that we would first have to pulverize the prills/granules?

Ironically, it wasn’t until I reviewed a state funded anti-terror site I was finally able to find the answers I was looking for.

So let’s try to answer our two questions;

1. Yes, calcium has been added to attempt to inert (make impotent) or to make the fertilizer non-explosive. The good news is that it would require 80% Calcium mixed with 20% AN to make the fertilizer completely inert. The only thing they accomplish with adding 20% Calcium Carbonate is to make it a little harder to detonate. It will f example make it hard to properly detonate smaller charges of the fertilizer (>50 kg). This forces the handler to use larger amounts of fertilizer (<100 kg) and use larger boosters. CAN fertilizer (Calcium Ammonium Nitrate) is the best option when manufacturing explosives (unless you can get your hands on pure AN which is increasingly harder to acquire in large quantities). Also, according to a forum source, CAN fertilizer is the best option to use for purification of AN through crystallization.

2. Yes; they have deliberately made the granules/prills less porous (they have compacted them) with the intention of making it harder for each granule/prill to easily absorb fuel oil. They have therefore made it harder for us to manufacture and prepare large quantities of AN explosives. However, this is easily bypassed by pulverizing the granules using a wood-roller on a wood board. It is a tedious task to pulverize 500-2000 kg of CAN fertilizer but the labour invested will be rewarded with a considerably more potent product. CAN fertilizer should be detonated under confinement or it may not detonate at all. Also, try to add as much, 400 mesh, flaked aluminium powder (up to 15% by weight) to nullify the desensitizing effect the 20% Calcium Carbonate has on the compound. Finer or coarser aluminium powder (atomized included) will work as well but 400 mesh, flaked aluminium powder is optimal, according to the book: Kitchen Improvised Explosives. Mixing this pulverized compound with diesel requires a specific approach, one which I lack experience on atm, but I will find a good way when I get that far.

Дата добавления: 2015-05-31