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Modification of Pyrotechnic formulations to aid recovery, recycling and demilitarization
Author(s) -
Akhavan J.,
Grose I.,
Rabin S.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
propellants, explosives, pyrotechnics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.56
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1521-4087
pISSN - 0721-3115
DOI - 10.1002/prep.19970220207
Subject(s) - waste management , dispose pattern , pellets , hazardous waste , environmental science , explosive material , pulp and paper industry , municipal solid waste , amendment , chemistry , materials science , engineering , composite material , law , organic chemistry , political science
Following the International Treaty held in London and Oslo in 1972 and its amendment in Paris in 1992 on banning the dumping of hazardous and toxic waste at sea, large stockpiles of unwanted munition are now awaiting disposal. Public awareness, environmental concern and legislation are preventing the disposal of this explosive waste by landfill, detonation and open pit burning. One solution to this dilemma is to recover the waste from the containers and recycle or dispose of the waste in an environmentally sensitive manner. Preliminary investigations have been conducted at Cranfield University in developing explosive compositions which can be safely recovered and recycled. Pyrotechnic compositions were prepared containing water soluble binders and pressed into pellets. Performance and sensitivity tests were carried out on the pellets. Inclusion of water soluble binders into pyrotechnic compositions did not have any detrimental effect on their performance. However, there was a 33% reduction in the Figure of Insensitiveness (F of I) in all cases except for the composition containing Dextrin. This had a similar F of I to the control pyrotechnic composition. The pellets containing Dextrin were immersed in water. 97% of the pyrotechnic components were successfully recovered from the water by filtration and recrystallization. The recovered components were recycled into new pyrotechnic compositions which performed just as well as the original composition. The results from this preliminary investigation show that recovery and recycling of pyrotechnic components is feasible for compositions containing water soluble binders.