SA - 8

Eliminating Noxious Fumes and Nitrate

Residues From Getting Into the Ground Water
Sponsored by:

Split Engineering
Santiago, Chile
December 5 – 7, 2016

Presented by:
R. Frank Chiappetta, MSc., P.Eng
Explosives Applications Engineer

Blasting Analysis
International, Inc.
Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

© 2016,Blasting Analysis International, Inc.

All Rights Reserved
Carbon Monoxide CO which
is odorless and colorless.

Hydrogen Sulfide H2S,

which is very corrosive.

Oxides of Nitrogen NO,

NO2, NO3, which are the
red/orange fumes.
 These noxious fumes
(NO,No2,NO3) could kill you.

300 – 500 ppm (0.03 – 0.05%) is

fatal, 8 – 72 hours after exposure.
 Anfo

Emulsion (100%)

Major ingredient in most bulk

explosives is AN (Ammonium Nitrate)
 Some Facts About Nitrate Residues

Nitrate residues originate from incomplete detonations and explosive spillages

anywhere at the mine.

Surface and underground water flows are the main transport mechanism into
lakes and streams.

If nitrate residues get into the drinking water, it will seriously affect people’s
health over long term ingestion.

Safe maximum levels for drinking water set by the EPA (Environmental
Protection Agency are 10 mg/L for nitrates and 1 mg/L for Nitrite-Nitrogen.

But recent data have shown that even at the Safe EPA limits, pregnant women,
nursing mothers, infants under 6 months, and the elderly can be seriously
affected.

Nitrate residues in the drinking water have been linked to cancer and birth
defects.
 If you can assure a high order detonation for the entire
explosive column, noxious fumes are not possible.

Think of:
Explosive formulation and manufacturing
quality controls.
Field controls.
Transportation, storage and sleep time.
Loading procedures in dry & wet holes.
Blast designs.
Field supervision.

If you solve the fume problems, you will also reduce nitrate
residues getting into the ground water, by default, because
both are caused by many of the same things.
VOD = 6,711 m/s
 Primary Causes of Fumes
• Poor explosive formulation/quality controls.
• Using too much unsensitized emulsion in a blend.
• Loss of borehole confinement.
• Closeness of explosive to critical diameter and density.
• Drill patterns too small for rock conditions.
• Ground shifts/Explosive column disruptions.
• Partial explosive desensitization.
• Diluted/contaminated explosives.
• Water saturated blast environment.
• Poor drilling and field controls.
• Inadequate loading techniques in wet holes.
• Inadequate primer size.
• Excessive sleep times.
• Soft, weathered, highly fractured rocks.
• Chemical reactions in certain soil/rock types.
 Anfo Energy vs Percent Fuel Oil
3 NH4NO3 + CH3 --- 3N2 + 7H2 + CO2
1000

900
Fuel rich
800

700
Fuel lean
Energy ( Cal/g)

600

500

400

300

200
NOx Fumes

100

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Percent Fuel Oil
Base = Anfo @ 0.82 g/cc
 Water Saturation Effects on Anfo – 152 mm Hole
6100

5490

4880
Energy = fn (Explosive Density, VOD2 )
4270
VOD (m/s)

3660

3050

2440

1830

1220

610
Fails
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
% Water Saturation in Anfo
Case 1
Panama
Canal

Expansion of the Panama Canal

Case 1
Panama
Canal
Case 1 Noxious fumes could not be tolerated in the
Panama expansion of the Panama Canal.
Canal

BAI stipulated that emulsion explosives had to be

sensitized with minimum 2,000 psi strength microballoons.
Case 1 Panama Canal – Noxious fumes
Panama measured in many blasts.
Canal
 Case 2
Coal
Mine in
Everyone immediately thought there was
Colombia a problem with the explosives at this
operation because of the orange fumes.

Explosive manufacturing representatives were

brought in from Europe and South America to check
explosive formulation and explosive plant.

But……
 Case 2
Coal
Mine in …..The problem was with very poor drilling
Colombia
controls, field controls and drill
maintenance.

Hole Depths were 58 – 61 m, and

one of the three levelling legs on
the drill was broken.

There was absolutely nothing

wrong with the explosives.
Case 3
Open Pit Explosive distributor decided to dispose old
Mine in deteriorated explosives by mixing them in the
Canada borehole with new explosives, without notifying
mine management.

Open pit mine was only 200 m

from residential homeowners.

Blast resulted in very toxic NOx fumes,

which migrated towards the homes, and
many residents required immediate
medical attention.

Never reuse old explosives. They

need to be disposed of properly.
 Explosive spillage is a main source of nitrate
residues getting into the ground water

(a)

Explosive Spillage
(a) (b)

Pumping explosives from collar

of hole results in unreacted
explosives and fumes

(c) (d)
.

Pumping explosives with

hose placed only 0.50 to
1.0 m into collar.
 Anfo augured from top of angled hole.

If this was a production hole, Anfo stuck

in the collar zone will not detonate at high
order, and it would contribute to fumes.

Angled hole 30o. Depth 21 m. Hole diameter 270 mm.

 Explosive loaded to top of hole.

This also contributes to noxious fumes and nitrate

residues, because the top of explosive column near
surface will not detonate at high order.
 Assume 10Kg of explosive/hole
is lost in the stemming and
through spillage on the ground in
this operation.

A mine that drills 50,000 holes/year

looses 500,000 Kg of explosive per year.
 Explosive
Contamination From
Drop Impact of Top
Stemming
 Drop Impact of Top Stemming
.
Stemming aggregate
(20 – 40 mm size)
dropped onto emulsion
explosive from only
one meter high.

How far down

into the
explosive the
stemming
penetrates
depends on:
Stemming Mass.
Drop Height.
Explosive Viscosity.
 Crushed rock stemming
dropped on top of emulsion
will dilute and contaminate
top part of explosive
column.
Large stemming size particles of up to 100
and 127 mm are too large when dropped
on top of an emulsion explosive column.

The larger is the stemming size and drop height in

low viscosity explosives, the worse it is.

Hole diameter = 381 mm. Top stemming = 4.0 m

 Drop impact of
top stemming

Explosive Explosive raised up

contamination into top stemming

Crushed rock stemming BAI has measured

dropped on emulsion the migration
from 1 m high. distance into top of
explosive up to 3 m.

Wet hole
contamination
Drop impact
of top
stemming

Explosive
also raised
up into top
Explosive stemming
contamination No explosive
could be up to 3 m contamination when
plug or airbag is
Will result in:
placed on top of
Noxious fumes. explosive column.
Nitrate residues
Wet hole Excessive airblast
contamination Excessive flyrock
Poor collar fragmentation
 Top Stemming Plugs

Many
Choices

Each manufacturer claims to

be better than the others.
Bulk Explosive Loading
in Wet holes
Auguring Anfo
 Wet Holes

Auguring explosives
from top of wet hole.

Trapped water
pockets and
water stringers
in explosive
column.
 Typical procedure in our
industry for loading in wet holes.

Step 1 - Hose lowered to bottom of hole.

 Typical procedure in our
industry for loading in wet holes.

Step 2 - Slack occurs in hose when the hose hits bottom of hole.
 Typical procedure in our
industry for loading in wet holes.

Step 3 - Hose is raised up anywhere from 0.5 to 1.5 m from the

bottom of the hole, before pumping explosives. This is not a good
practice.
Without the design depth in this column, blaster will not know
if there was a mud column at the bottom of the hole.
 Effect of raising loading hose 0.50 – 1.5 m
from bottom of wet holes.

Loading in wet hole

started with end of
Loading in wet hole hose here.
started with end of
hose here.
Loading in wet hole
Explosive bridging started with end of
immediately occurs at hose here.
discharge end of hose.
Explosive bridging
immediately occurs at
discharge end of hose.
In wet holes, the
explosive pumping rate
and hose retraction
rate should be
calibrated so that the
water rides on top of
the explosive column
without trapping any
water.

All of the blast crews did this correctly.

 Primer must be weighed down in wet
holes to eliminate primer from floating up
the explosive column.

(b) Rock and primer

Primer andinside
placed rock weights
netting
inside netting

(a) (c)
Explosive Contamination
From Drill Cuttings Falling
Back Into Hole
Eliminating Drill Cuttings from Falling Back Into Hole
Very fine powdery drill
cuttings are worse
than drill chips.

Implies drill parameters

need to be checked such
as, rotation speed, pull
down pressure, and bailing
velocity, etc.
 Powdery drill cutting
mounds imply the drill
parameters need to be
checked such as, rotation
speed, pull down pressure,
and bailing velocity, etc.
 127 mm

Very fine, powdery, drill cutting mounds.

 Hole with 4 m of water.

During proper loading in wet holes, the water will

rise on top of the explosive column, without
trapping any water within the explosive column.
 Hole with 4-5 m of water.

During loading, the water will eventually

rise to the top of the hole, and is trapped
by the drill cutting funnel.
 Hole with 4-5 m of water.

As the water continues to rise

into the drill cutting funnel, more
of the drill cuttings are sucked
back into the hole.
 Example of where 100% of the entire drill
cutting mound was sucked back into the hole by
the water rise, during the hole loading process.

This could represent anywhere from

5% – 12% explosive contamination,
which contributes to fumes and
nitrate residues.

.
 Controlled Contamination Tests with Percent Drill Cuttings Mixed in Explosives.
Displacement (ft.)

A 10 % drill cutting dilution

in explosive represents a
17% drop in VOD, which
contributes to noxious
fumes and nitrate residues Failed
 Eliminating Drill Cuttings from Falling Back Into
Hole and Contaminating Explosive While Loading.

Drainage ditch should

be made before water
reaches top of hole.
Eliminating Drill Cuttings from Falling Back Into Hole

Top hole plugs

 Eliminating Drill Cuttings from Falling Back Into Hole

(a) (b)

Top casing tubes placed Stemming must be placed

only in collar of hole. casing tube and borehole wall,
otherwise tube will be ejected
out of hole.
Collar casings help to prevent
drill cuttings, rocks and debris
from falling back into the holes.
Eliminating Drill Cuttings
from Falling Back Into Hole

Panama Canal – PVC pipes used to

eliminate top stemming and loose
rocks from dropping back into hole.

Continuous column PVC pipes

(20 m) lifted with crane to drop
in holes.
 Eliminating Drill Cuttings
from Falling Back Into Hole
Prepared blast with continuous 20 m PVC casings
for entire hole depths in the Panama Canal.
Drilling in this blast block was very
difficult due, to a water saturated
block and poor ground conditions

Holes were 100% full of water

Drilling a 165 mm hole to 14 m depths
averaged 45 – 60 minutes, but with
little success in trying to keep the
holes open.
Even when the drillers got out of the
drill cap to clean loose rocks away 5 - 6
times per hole from the hole collar,
they still failed to keep the holes open
for loading.
Most of the holes were
lost, and could not be
loaded.
So when everything else
has failed to keep holes
open in a water saturated
block……,

The only alternative is to take

smaller shots, sometimes with
as little as only 1 – 3 rows,
because this will help to
dewater the blast block