How UltrAN is produced at Yara

Ensuring consistent quality is at the heart of maximising blast results. See how we achieve quality and efficiency from our production methods for UltraAN.

You can be sure of receiving quality products from Yara. Our production facilities supplying industries that manufacture civil explosives for civil, mining and public works are ISO certified. Plus, our Ammonium Nitrate processes are designed to ensure constant quality so you can produce consistent emulsions to achieve an efficient blast.

How we make UltrAN

Combine oxygen (from air) and ammonia to form nitric acid. This is done through a number of reactions (see grey boxes).
Combine the nitric acid and ammonia to form an ammonium nitrate solution (see bright blue and orange boxes).
Concentrate the ammonium nitrate solution, and further process to form droplets of crystallized ammonium nitrate. Dry and cool the solidified droplets, referred to as prills, to form the final product of UltrAN Technical Ammonium Nitrates (see dark grey below).

Products are optimised to suit various needs; for example the components used in UltrAN Tropical are designed to be free-flowing in humid climates.

For ANFO, we produce quality porous prills designed to optimise high oil absorption and retention of fuel oil.

For emulsions, we use a purified quality dense prill that isn't porous. We guarantee that even minor levels of iron (> 15 ppm) are absent to produce the right quality of ammonium nitrate for emulsion.