Keywords Ammonium nitrate production, Fluid bed granulation, Sluiskil plant.

The fluidized bed granulation technology developed by NSM is already well known for its application in the field of urea. The same technology is also used in a large AN/CAN plant operated by NSM in its own production facilities at Sluiskil (the Netherlands). The paper describes the basic concepts of the NSM granulator, and the way they apply to ammonium nitrate, pointing out the distinctive features of the process. After general design considerations, a description of the Sluiskil plant is given, also explaining how auxiliary circuits of the plant were designed to meet the required flexibility and reliability.

J P Bruynseels, Nederlandse Stikstof Maatschappij BV (NSM), Belgium.

24 Pages, 11 Figures, 2 Tables.