Ammonium Nitrate Emulsion

How to Pump Ammonium Nitrate Emulsion Safely and Efficiently

High pump service life speeds up delivery to mining operations

Maximum safety, long service life and, at the same time, increased capacity when pumping ammonium nitrate emulsion - do you think that's contradictory? Not at NETZSCH Pumps & Systems! As a global specialist in complex fluid management, we offer you the optimal solution for pumping explosive ammonium nitrate emulsion.

Let us show you how to benefit and save money by replacing your old pump with an innovative NEMO®progressing cavity pump from NETZSCH. Increase the service life of the unit and, at the same time, the throughput capacity of the entire system when pumping ammonium nitrate emulsion.

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Ammonium Nitrate Emulsion, NETZSCH, Pumps, Systems

Pumping explosive ammonium nitrate emulsion? What you need to know

High safety in transporting explosives is one of the biggest challenges in mining. Since both storage and transport of explosives always pose an enormous risk, safety in mining and construction sites with blasting operations has long been a significant problem. To reduce the risk and, at the same time, achieve better blasting performance, pumpable emulsion explosives have been increasingly used for some time. Ammonium nitrate emulsion is widely used here. However, unique pumps are needed to safely and reliably deliver the explosive ammonium nitrate emulsion.

Ammonium nitrate emulsion: Replacing the pump and increasing its service life

An international explosives manufacturer used a progressing cavity pump to fill silos and loading tanks with the ready-to-use ammonium nitrate emulsion. However, the pump was not performing as required, and regular breakdowns delayed the supply to mines and customers. The pin joint of the ammonium nitrate emulsion pump could not withstand the torque or the deflection of the coupling rod and, therefore, often failed. The shortness of the coupling rod increased the angle that the joint had to compensate. This increased the stress on the common and the dynamic load on its sealing system. In addition, the lubricating effect of the lubricant used was insufficient. As a result, the pump used to deliver the ammonium nitrate emulsion constantly failed. However, since it had to fulfil a crucial task in the process chain, every standstill led to considerable costs and delays in delivery.

22000

mPas viscosity are no problem 

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With the NEMO® BY progressing cavity pump in FSIP® design with xLC® stator adjustment system you can reduce maintenance time.   

How to extend your service life when pumping ammonium nitrate emulsion

To increase the service life of the unit and the throughput of the entire plant, the manufacturer of the ammonium nitrate emulsion was looking for a more reliable pump with greater capacity. This was when he came across NETZSCH and its NEMO® progressing cavity pump technology, which has proven itself in countless applications worldwide. This is optimally suited for the explosive ammonium nitrate emulsion since the consistency and viscosity of the medium are irrelevant to the flow rate. In this application, the pump is equipped with the NEMO® V-pin joint, filled with oil to achieve a long service life. To increase the service life of the pin joint even under the most difficult operating conditions, it also has hardened bushings. These are pressed into the bores of the coupling rod and the rotor or drive shaft head and are particularly easy to replace during maintenance work. In this way, the progressing cavity pump offers you an increased service life and simple maintenance and servicing.

In order to increase the service life for the application and the throughput rate of the whole system, the emulsion manufacturer searched for a more reliable pump with a larger capacity and found NETZSCH. Mining specialist Tyron Adam proposed a NEMO® progressing cavity pump for the job. It is ideally suited for ammonium nitrate emulsion, because consistency and viscosity of the product are insignificant in terms of the product flow. At this application the NEMO® progressing cavity pump was also fitted with the NEMO® V-pin joint, that is filled with oil in order to achieve a long service life. To increase the lifetime of the pin joint even in the toughest operating conditions, it also has hardened bushes. These are pressed into the boreholes of the coupling rod and the rotor head or drive shaft head and can be particularly easily replaced during maintenance work.

For reasons of safety, the pump was not fitted with a single mechanical seal with pressure-free quenching: To further increase process reliability and minimise risk of product crystalizing between seal faces, a double-acting ASSEAL mechanical seal with thermosiphon vessels was used. In addition, the installation of a variable speed control enables the manufacturer to implement a control concept which provides for adjusting the conveying speed of the pump to the specific quantity of emulsion which is available for filling the storage tanks. This process optimization allows a considerable reduction of the number of pump starts during a shift, which significantly increases the service life of the pump. Since March 2013 the NEMO® pump has been running trouble-free.

NEMO® SY with bearing housing and free shaft end

  • Medium: Ammonium nitrate emulsion
  • Temperature: 50 °C
  • Viscosity18.000 to 22.000 mPas
  • Rotations speed: 189 rpm
  • Throughput volume: 48 m³/h
  • Pressure: 9 bar
NEMO® SY With Bearing Housing and Free Shaft End, NETZSCH, Pumps, Systems