Process for the thermal treatment of ammonium nitrate for manufacturing ANFO and heavy ANFO

Abstract

A method of thermally treating high density ammonium nitrate for manufacturing ANFO and heavy ANFO including loading high density ammonium nitrate into a tank; entering the high density ammonium nitrate into heating equipment at room temperature; heating the high density ammonium nitrate inside the heating equipment; removing the treated ammonium nitrate from the heating equipment at a temperature less than 60° C.; and sieving the treated ammonium nitrate, thereby obtaining thermally treated ammonium nitrate; feeding thermally treated ammonium nitrate at a temperature of less than 30° C. into a mixing chamber while injecting fuel into the thermally treated ammonium nitrate feeding pipe, thereby obtaining ANFO; loading gassed or ungassed bulk emulsion into a hopper; feeding the bulk emulsion into the same mixing chamber as the ANFO; and mixing the bulk emulsion and the ANFO, thereby obtaining heavy ANFO.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.