Emulsion Explosives Technology Licenses

Zukovich, Morhard & Wade, LLC (ZMW) is a design and build engineering firm that specializes in transferring and licensing emulsion explosives technology and know-how.

Since we formed ZMW in 1999, we have provided technical services for most of the world's multinational industrial explosives manufacturers supplying emulsion explosives technology, formulations, equipment, process management and plant installation.

Over the careers of our partners and associates, ZMW has gained extensive experiences designing, permitting, installing and commissioning fifty-one (51) new emulsion explosives production plants, and in that time frame we have dismantled, moved, reconditioned, re-erected and re-commissioned five (5) emulsion explosives production plants.

The # 1 ZMW Priority Is Safety

A very important aspect of designing, constructing and operating an emulsion explosive production facility is the Hazards and Operability Studies (HAZOP). ZMW takes a nonnegotiable position with respect to explosives safety. We have and will continue to have this standard, and will not be involved with any operation we deem to be unsafe. ZMW has conducted HAZOP studies for many multinational explosives manufacturers who make explosives security and safety their primary concern.

The Standard You Accept Is The Standard You Get

Our speciality is working in remote areas of the world, using equipment manufactured locally, and the available raw materials; and this expertise results in value for ZMW licenses.

We have extensive experiences in training emulsion explosives production plant operators and maintenance personnel in the safety, health and environmental protocols for efficiently managing the emulsion process equipment, the emulsion process chemistry, and the production quality control and quality assurance.

This electron microscope photograph was captured 13 March 2009 at the Changsha Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, in Hunan Province, China. This outstanding photograph is an example of the advanced ZMW emulsion explosives technology that results in an ultra small and evenly distributed emulsion droplet. With droplets ranging from 960 nanometers to 3.44 micrometer this emulsion matrix contains a very efficient and intimate arrangement of fuels and oxidizers, assuring a high quality detonation and a long shelf life with no segregation. The emulsion matrix was produced by a ZMW Emulsion Explosives Technology Licensee with a ZMW formulation for an underground coal mining or permissible explosive fabricated with ZMW designed equipment at the Changzhi Production Plant in Shanxi Province in China.

This is a formed filled packaged detonator sensitive emulsion explosive cartridge ( Explosive, Blasting Type E, UN 0241 PG11 UN 1.1 D).
This RedPak™ cartridge was produced at the Red Bull Powder Company under a ZMW Emulsion Explosives Technology License.

(photo courtesy of Red Bull Powder Company, Auckland, New Zealand)

Packaged Detonator Sensitive Emulsion Explosives

Velocity of Detonation: 13,000 ft/s (4,000 m/s) to over 17,700 ft/s (5,400 m/s)
Bulk Density: 1.15 to 1.25 g/cc
Relative Bulk Strength: 120 – 180 (ANFO = 100)
Water Resistance: Excellent
Shelf Life: 1 Year No significant crystallizing or segregation
Temperature Ranges: - 20C to over + 50C
Explosion Temperature: 2,200 to 3,700C
Critical Diameter: 0.5 inch (12.7mm)
Detonation Pressure: 100 Kbar
Absolute Weight Strength: 674 – 928 cal/gram
Absolute Bulk Strength: 775 – 1095 cal/cc
Impact and Friction: No action in UN Standard Tests
Sensitivity: No 8 strength detonator
Hazards Class: Explosive, Blasting Type E, UN 0241 PG11 UN 1.1 D

Bob Morhard on-site at a ZMW licensee using ZMW Emulsion Explosives Technology

This is a continuous velocity of detonation curve of a RedPak™ booster cartridge that was produced at the Red Bull Powder Company under a ZMW Emulsion Explosives Technology License.

(photo courtesy of Red Bull Powder Company, Auckland, New Zealand)

This new bulk emulsion explosives production facility is operating at capacity to support the Panama Canal widening project, and is the first explosives production facility in Panama. The plant is operated by Orica Panama and Mineria Explosivosy Servivios, S.A under a ZMW Emulsion Explosives Technology License.

(photo courtesy of Orica Panama and Mineria Explosivos y Servivios, S.A)

Bulk Emulsion Explosives

Velocity of Detonation: 13,000 ft/s (4000 m/s) - 19,000 ft/s (5800 m/s)
Bulk Density: 1.07 to 1.31 g/cc
Relative Bulk Strength: 126 – 187 (ANFO = 100)
Water Resistance:
Excellent (Emulsion/ANFO 100/0, 70/30. 60/40)
Good (Emulsion/ANFO 40/60, 35/65)
Poor (Emulsion/ANFO 25/75, 20/80, 10/90)
Shelf Life: 1 Year No Crystallizing or segregation
Temperature Ranges: - 20C to over + 50C
Explosion Temperature: 2,200 to 3,700C
Heat at Constant Volume: 3 to 5 MJ/kg
Specific Energy: 800 to 1,200 kJ/kg
Specific Pressure: 8,500 to over 11,000 atm/kg.
UN Hazards Class options:

Ammonium Nitrate Emulsion UN 3375
Hazard Class 5.1 Oxidizing Substance

Explosive, Blasting Type E, UN 0332
Hazard Class1.5D Blasting Agent

Austin Powder Company has hundreds of Hydromite ™ bulk emulsion delivery trucks capable of pumping 100 % emulsion or auguring emulsion ANFO blends.

(Photo courtesy of Austin Powder Company, Cleveland, OH USA
The emulsion bulk body was designed and upgraded to Austin Powder Company specifications and manufactured by
Tread Corporation, Roanoke, VA USA)