2.2 Prozesssimulation
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- 2020 (2)
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- Beitrag zu einem Tagungsband (2) (entfernen)
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- Englisch (2)
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Schlagworte
- Ammonium nitrate (1)
- Flammable gases (1)
- Hazardous materials (1)
- Non-destructive characterisation (1)
- Porosity (1)
- Prill (1)
- Specific surface area (1)
- Toxic gases (1)
- Transport regulations (1)
Organisationseinheit der BAM
- 2.2 Prozesssimulation (2) (entfernen)
The mixture of ammonium nitrate (AN) prills and fuel oil (FO), usually called ANFO, is extensively used in the mining industry as a bulk industrial explosive. One of the major performance predictors of ANFO mixtures is the fuel oil retention, which is itself governed by the porosity of the AN prills. Standardised tests routinely used to assess oil retention face several important limitations; the first being the difficulty to cover the wide range of porosity contents and morphologies from different types of ammonium nitrate prills; the second being the inability to evaluate the closed porosity, which is an important factor regarding the sensitivity of the explosive to detonation. In this study, we present how X-ray computed tomography (XCT), and the associated advanced data processing workflow, can be used to fully characterise the structure and morphology of AN prills. We show that structural parameters such as volume fraction of the different phases and morphological parameters such as specific surface area and shape factor can be reliably extracted from the XCT data, and that there is a good agreement with the measured oil retention values. XCT can therefore be employed to non-destructively and accurately evaluate and characterise porosity in ammonium nitrate prills.
Testing of hazardous materials and evaluating their hazardous properties concerning transport, handling or use is essential for the prevention of incidents. For this purpose, test methods have been developed and published that are used worldwide today (European Union, 2008, United Nations, 2019). For the evaluation of test results their correct measurement is of importance. On basis of the interlaboratory tests carried out by BAM and PTB within the framework of the CEQAT-DGHS in the last years, it is shown that there is a need for improvement in all the test methods examined so far. In addition to the interlaboratory tests further quality measures are mandatory (ISO, 2017). For example, methods for verifying the test equipment used in the laboratories should be developed.
The development of a verification method is demonstrated using the test method UN Test N.5 as an example. This test method is used to evaluate substances which in contact with water emit flammable gases. The basic principle of the verification method is demonstrated by Lüth et al. (2019). Requirements and difficulties during this development are discussed.
This test procedure UN Test N.5 has now been modified at BAM so that it is possible to measure very small or large amounts of both flammable and/or toxic gases over a long period of time in a validated and verified test apparatus, utilizing the principle of a gas collector. This allows us to determine slow as well as fast gas evolution rates. The determination of the evolution rates (e.g. total gas amount or flow rate) of toxic gases is of special interest because of the ongoing discussion how to evaluate and quantify toxic gases which are formed from a substance due to contact with water. Up today no validated test procedure for the measurement of evolution rates for toxic gases is described. It is shown that the newly modified test method could help to solve this problem.