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Thermal behaviour of ammonium nitrate prills coated with limestone and dolomite powder

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Abstract

The thermal behaviour of ammonium nitrate (AN) and its prills coated with limestone and dolomite powder was studied on the basis of commercial fertilizer-grade AN and six Estonian limestone and dolomite samples. Coating of AN prills was carried out on a plate granulator and a saturated solution of AN was used as a binding agent. The mass of AN prills and coating material was calculated based on the mole ratio of AN/(CaO + MgO) = 2:1. Thermal behaviour of AN and its coated prills was studied using combined TG-DTA-FTIR equipment. The experiments were carried out under dynamic heating conditions up to 900 °C at the heating rate of 10 °C min−1 and for calculation of kinetic parameters, additionally, at 2, 5 and 20 °C min−1 in a stream of dry air. A model-free kinetic analysis approach based on the differential isoconversional method of Friedman was used to calculate the kinetic parameters. The results of TG-DTA-FTIR analyses and the variation of the value of activation energy E along the reaction progress α indicate the complex character of the decomposition of neat AN as well as of the interactions occurring at thermal treatment of AN prills coated with limestone and dolomite powder.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partly supported by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research (SF0140082s08) and the Estonian Science Foundation (G7548).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Materials Technology, Tallinn University of Technology, Ehitajate tee 5, 19086, Tallinn, Estonia

    I. Rudjak, T. Kaljuvee, A. Trikkel & V. Mikli

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  1. I. Rudjak
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  2. T. Kaljuvee
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  3. A. Trikkel
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  4. V. Mikli
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Correspondence to T. Kaljuvee.

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Rudjak, I., Kaljuvee, T., Trikkel, A. et al. Thermal behaviour of ammonium nitrate prills coated with limestone and dolomite powder. J Therm Anal Calorim 99, 749–754 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-009-0391-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-009-0391-y

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