Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound, the nitrate salt of the ammonium cation. It has the chemical formula NH4NO3, simplified to N2H4O3. It is a white crystal solid and is highly soluble in water.
Detailed description
It is predominantly used in agriculture as a high-nitrogen fertilizer.[4]Its other major use is as a component of explosive mixtures used in mining, quarrying, and civil construction. It is the major constituent of ANFO, a popular industrial explosive which accounts for 80% of explosives used in North America; similar formulations have been used in improvised explosive devices. Many countries are phasing out its use in consumer applications due to concerns over its potential for misuse.
Applications
Fertilizer
Ammonium nitrate is an important fertilizer with the NPK rating 34-0-0 (34% nitrogen).[8] It is less concentrated than urea (46-0-0), giving ammonium nitrate a slight transportation disadvantage. Ammonium nitrate's advantage over urea is that it is more stable and does not rapidly lose nitrogen to the atmosphere. During warm weather it is best to apply urea soon before rain is expected or to cover it with soil to minimize nitrogen loss.[9][10]
Explosives
Ammonium nitrate is not, on its own, an explosive,[11] but it readily forms explosive mixtures with varying properties when combined with primary explosives such as azides or with fuels such as aluminum powder or fuel oil.
Mixture with fuel oil
ANFO is a mixture of 94% ammonium nitrate ("AN") and 6% fuel oil ("FO") widely used as a bulk industrial explosive.[12]:1 It is used in coal mining, quarrying, metal mining, and civil construction in undemanding applications where the advantages of ANFO's low cost and ease of use matter more than the benefits offered by conventional industrial explosives, such as water resistance, oxygen balance, high detonation velocity, and performance in small diameters.[12]:2
Terrorism
Ammonium nitrate-based explosives were used in the Oklahoma City Bombing in 1995 and 2011 Delhi bombings, the 2013 Hyderabad blasts, and the 2011 bombing in Oslo.
In November 2009, a ban on ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate, and calcium ammonium nitrate fertilizers was imposed in the former Malakand Division—comprising the Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Swat, Chitral, and Malakand districts of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan—by the NWFP government, following reports that those chemicals were used by militants to make explosives. Due to these bans, "Potassium chlorate — the stuff that makes matches catch fire — has surpassed fertilizer as the explosive of choice for insurgents."[13]
Niche uses
Ammonium nitrate is used in some instant cold packs, as its dissolution in water is highly endothermic. It also was used, in combination with independently explosive "fuels" such as guanidine nitrate,[14][15] as a cheaper (but less stable) alternative to 5-aminotetrazole in the inflaters of airbags manufactured by Takata Corporation, which were recalled as unsafe after killing 14 people.
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