Reclaiming TNT and aluminum from tritonal and tritonal-containing munitions
AssigneeGradiaent Technology
InventorsWilliam J. Taylor, Duane A. Goetsch
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A process for the recovery of TNT and aluminum from tritonal-containing military shells. The process uses a solvent in which the TNT is substantially soluble, but not the aluminum. This results in a liquid organic solvent phase and a solid aluminum particle phase. The aluminum particles are recovered by conventional solid-liquid separation techniques, such as filtering, gravity settling, and the like. The TNT is recovered from the solvent by flashing or evaporating the solvent and recrystallizing the TNT.
Claims11
A process for removing an explosive comprised of TNT and aluminum particles from a military shell containing same and recovering the TNT and aluminum particles, which military shell also contains at least one organic liner component, which process comprises:
- a) opening said shell to expose the explosive and organic liner component;
- b) treating the exposed explosive and organic liner component with a solvent in which TNT is substantially soluble, but in which said aluminum particles and Organic liner component are substantially insoluble;
- c) removing only the explosive from the shell, thereby resulting in a TNT/solvent solution containing aluminum particles, and leaving said organic liner component in the shell;
- d) separating the aluminum particles from the TNT/solvent solution;
- e) recovering said TNT component from said solvent.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.