Product Contamination

Physical size of the polystyrene beads vs. the ammonium nitrate could lead to appropriate filtering out of the two.

Isn't ammonium nitrate water soluble?

Couldn't you just dissolve it to separate?

John.

Yes ammonium nitrate is water soluble ,but our operations people want to be able to convey the product back to a silo to use at a later date.

Many Thanks

Dear Sir.

Yes you are correct the Poly is 8mm in dia and the AN is approx 3mm ,and yes screening would probably do the job but the rate of discharge from our truck required by our operations people is 330kg per minute , and this creates a sreening system of very large proportions.

Many Thanks

your problem sounds like a simple one we in the plastic business deal with frequently; one of using a magnetic flux field to disrupt the electrostatic charge between contaminants and pellets, and a air wash deck to separate and remove the contaminants.

there are several products that can do this, and I would search on the phrase above to find companies that have them on the shelf who would provide a sampling to prove that there product will do the job for you.

Thanks for the info can you supply a web address so I can continue my research.

I think the Ammonium Nitrate is water soluble, but depending how it is made it is likely transported in clay prills (the way they do it to make fertilizer) so dissolving in water likely won't be the answer to separating.

I don't think filtering would be a problem, even at the volumes you discuss, but I think the electrostatic method plastic man mentioned would be your answer. Good luck!

How have you been doing it so far?

We have only been using Polystyrene in our trucks for a short period of time so this problem has only just arisen ,so at this stage we have tried nothing.

What if you create a screen that separate the two items?? Since one is noticeably smaller, you can make a screen to let the small particle fall through a screen and collect in one bin, and push (or vibrates) the bigger one to another bin.

MidniteFighter

Look what I found.

^{Article
Synthesis and characterization of nitroglycerin-functionalized polystyrene S. Raja, R. Dhamodharan * Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600 036, India
email: R. Dhamodharan (damo@acer.iitm.ernet.in)}

^{*Correspondence to R. Dhamodharan, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600 036, India}

^{Funded by:
Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), India}

^{Keywords polymer-modification reactions; Friedel-Crafts reaction; diethyl oxomalonate; glycerol; nitroglycerin; pyrolysis-mass spectrometry; functionalized polystyrene}

^{Abstract The synthesis and characterization of diethyl oxomalonate-, glycerol-, and nitroglycerin-functionalized polystyrene (DPS, GPS, and NGPS) from polystyrene (PS) by the chemical-modification route were explored. DPS was synthesized by the Friedel-Crafts acylation of PS with diethyl oxomalonate in the presence of SnCl₄ by a batchwise-addition process. Proton NMR studies indicate that the acylation was essentially quantitative. IR spectroscopy was additionally used to confirm the transformation. The reduction of DPS was carried out using various reduction agents and reaction conditions. The sodium hydride reduction in tetrahydrofuran resulted in a quantitative conversion to GPS as estimated by 1H NMR spectroscopy. Treatment of GPS with a nitrating mixture of nitric and sulfuric acids results in the formation of NGPS. All the polymers were characterized using gel permeation chromatography, IR, UV, 1H spectroscopic techniques, pyrolysis-mass spectrometry, and thermogravimetric analysis. This is the first investigation on the syntheses of DPS, GPS, and NGPS. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 39: 1203-1215, 2001}

_{NGPS must be a superpolystyrene when the two are mixed. Interesting. You can add diethyl oxomalonate and store this in one silo as NGPS.}

^{Synthesis and characterization of nitroglycerin-functionalized polystyrene S. Raja, R. Dhamodharan * Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600 036, India
email: R. Dhamodharan (damo@acer.iitm.ernet.in)}

^{*Correspondence to R. Dhamodharan, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600 036, India}

^{Funded by:
Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), India}

^{Keywords polymer-modification reactions; Friedel-Crafts reaction; diethyl oxomalonate; glycerol; nitroglycerin; pyrolysis-mass spectrometry; functionalized polystyrene}

^{Abstract The synthesis and characterization of diethyl oxomalonate-, glycerol-, and nitroglycerin-functionalized polystyrene (DPS, GPS, and NGPS) from polystyrene (PS) by the chemical-modification route were explored. DPS was synthesized by the Friedel-Crafts acylation of PS with diethyl oxomalonate in the presence of SnCl₄ by a batchwise-addition process. Proton NMR studies indicate that the acylation was essentially quantitative. IR spectroscopy was additionally used to confirm the transformation. The reduction of DPS was carried out using various reduction agents and reaction conditions. The sodium hydride reduction in tetrahydrofuran resulted in a quantitative conversion to GPS as estimated by 1H NMR spectroscopy. Treatment of GPS with a nitrating mixture of nitric and sulfuric acids results in the formation of NGPS. All the polymers were characterized using gel permeation chromatography, IR, UV, 1H spectroscopic techniques, pyrolysis-mass spectrometry, and thermogravimetric analysis. This is the first investigation on the syntheses of DPS, GPS, and NGPS. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 39: 1203-1215, 2001}

This is probably over reacting, but being that ammonium nitrate is now virtually a controlled substance after the Oklahoma bombing, large purchases of which are reported in the US to DHS...anyone who wants to accumulate "contaminated" ammonium nitrate before it becomes "a more pure form" of ammonium nitrate, aforementioned controlled substance, well I wouldn't be so quick to advise. Especially when he calls us "gents."

I realise that Ammonium Nitrate is a dangerous good but I work in the exsplosive industry so my questions are correct , any assistance from other engineers would be most helpfull. Maybe I should have refered to you as Genltemen not Gents sorry about that.

"Gents" was my weak attempt at humour.

However your answer brings me little comfort because it might be said that terrorists work in the explosives industry as well. I don't believe your questions are "correct" and in any case I am not sure if they are appropriate. I think the word "correct" is not the word that you mean to use. You must mean allowable or appropriate as in an allowable or an appropriate question.

Correct would be applied to the answer and not to the question. The "correct" question would only apply to "Jeopardy," and that is because the question is the answer. Do you know what that is? "Jeopardy" I mean. By the way, is English your first language?

I also would expect that someone who works in the "exsplosive" industry would know how to spell it.

Ossie is my first language , and this useless banter is not helping my project time.

how did this ever turn out? Jim