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European Regulations Reduce Effectiveness of Ammonium Nitrate Fertilizers as Bomb Component
A brief excerpt from a longer, very informative article. The European Economic Community - predecessor of the European Union - began to regulate production of ammonium nitrate fertilizer in 1980. EU rules require that ammonium nitrate fertilizers with more than 28 percent nitrogen be produced with large, dense granules to prevent them from absorbing diesel fuel - the explosive mix that has killed hundreds. Effective Thursday, Turkey will ban the import of all fertilizers that do not meet those requirements. For now, the fertilizer remains cheap with a metric ton - about 2,200 pounds - costing $220 in Turkey. Turkish importers are planning to mix lime into the fertilizer to cut its concentration of nitrogen and make it safer. But reducing the nitrogen content undermines its value as a fertilizer. The Turkish ban came about after a series of fertilizer bombs in November killed 62 people in attacks on two synagogues, the British consulate and the London-based HSBC Bank in Istanbul. The blasts were blamed on a local al-Qaida cell. Each of the four pickup trucks used were packed with some 5,000 pounds of fertilizer bombs.... Speciality Fertilizer Products, a firm based in Belton, Mo., has developed a water-soluble coating designed to repel diesel fuel that dissolves rapidly once the fertilizer is placed on soil, said Andy Oppenheimer of Janeâs Information Group in London. Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-04-14 |
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