Design of a process line for Nitrocellulose-based gunpowder

Abstract

The manufacture of nitrocellulose-based gunpowder involves the following unit operations and processes; raw material storage and feed preparation, Nitration, centrifugation, drowning, boiling, pulping, poaching, screening and blending, centrifugation, dehydration, mixing, pressing, solvent recovery and hardening. In this study, designing a process line for nitrocellulose-based gunpowder was done. This was illustrated using block, process flow and piping and instrumentation diagrams. Nitrocellulose with a low degree of nitration is applied in paints, lacquers, varnishes, inks and others while that with a high degree of nitration (>12.5%) is used in explosives.