BME’s solution to Anfo: hydrogen peroxide emulsions

Speaking at the recent International Society of Explosives Engineers in Savannah, Georgia, last month, D. Scott Scovira, global manager of blasting science […]
D. Scott Scovira, BME’s global manager of blasting science, says hydrogen peroxide emulsion eliminates most noxious gases when blasting. Credit: BME

Speaking at the recent International Society of Explosives Engineers in Savannah, Georgia, last month, D. Scott Scovira, global manager of blasting science at BME delivered a highly anticipated technical talk about using hydrogen peroxide emulsions rather than ammonium nitrate-based explosives.

His paper was titled “Breaking the nitrate-based explosives greenhouse – the dawn of production-scale hydrogen peroxide emulsion (HPE) for industrial blasting” in the ISEE technical sessions.

The paper reportedly attracted the highest attendance of all the technical sessions, with up to 400 delegates filling the venue. He attributed the high level of interest to the fact that this technology has significant disruptive potential in the market and could impact upon various stakeholders.

While hydrogen peroxide explosive generates similar levels of carbon dioxide in post-blast fumes as ammonium nitrate, the new technology does not generate nitrous oxides (NOx), ammonia, or nitrate pollution.

“As an emerging technology, there are inevitably going to be many uncertainties to resolve,” Scovira said. “However, now that a company of BME’s stature has embraced the concept, this has obviously raised the interest of market participants and end-customers alike.”

Plans for a hydrogen peroxide emulsion plant are underway in Canada.

BME Mining Canada’s head of business development Neil Alberts, highlighted the positive sentiment at the ISEE conference around the recent strategic partnership formed between Omnia, BME and Hypex Bio – the pioneer in hydrogen peroxide emulsion.

More about innovations in blasting is posted on www.BME.co.za.

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