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| Blasting agent, combined with waste oil, being loaded into boreholes |
Description of Problem
During the mid-1990s, several mines had asked the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) if they could dispose of waste motor oil from their heavy equipment by using it to make ammonium nitrate fuel oil (ANFO) blasting agent. MSHA regulations prohibited this practice because it was not known if it was safe.
Research and Development Activities
MSHA asked for NIOSH assistance in determining whether this practice was safe and in developing a set of criteria that mines would have to follow to employ this practice safely. The Pittsburgh Research Laboratory conducted research to determine the temperature at which waste oil became too viscous to properly coat ammonium nitrate prills, developed a field test that blasters could use to ensure that their waste oil was properly mixing with ammonium nitrate, and evaluated the thermal stability of ANFO produced with waste oil. At MSHA's request, NIOSH assisted mines in developing safe procedures for the use of waste oil in ANFO.
R&D Outputs and Transfer Activities
NIOSH researchers and MSHA personnel developed a set of safe practices for the use of waste oil in explosives. MSHA required that any mine using waste oil in explosives had to follow these practices. Through publications and presentations at conferences, NIOSH informed blasters of these safe practices.
Description of Intermediate Outcome
The use of waste motor oil in ANFO has now become an accepted industry practice. The NIOSH-developed guidelines were adopted by the Institute of Makers of Explosives. Mines save the cost of disposal of waste motor oil, decrease their need for fuel oil, and turn waste motor oil into a usable resource rather than a waste product that requires disposal.