Large amounts of aging ammunition is today many times stored in faulty storage rooms, in many places all over the world and ammunition constitutes a ticking environmental bomb, especially as military explosives are acutely and chronically toxic and extremely hazardous to the environment. A dumping of the ammunition is excluded and the destruction methods existing today, or being in a development phase, have en- vironmental and safety problems, as well as mechanical ones.

The object of the present invention is to provide a method and a device for destructing military explosives, whereby the problems now existing during the caretaking of aging ammuni- tion are solved. The distinguishing features of the invention are disclosed in the accompanying claims.

Thanks to the present invention there have now been achieved a method and a device for destructing military explosives, so that the ammunition can be handled very rationally and in a safe way by the aid of a mobile destructing plant, so that among other things transport on a large scale is eliminated by a high explosive and environmentally dangerous material.

Safe security against theft and sabotage is also achieved, said risk as a rule being minimal in military stores, why a mobile destructing plant for destruction on one and the same spot is to recommend. By the aid of a robot in the plant, ignition fuses in the ammunition are removed from their cartridges for later destruction, at the same time as the cartridges are kept in position, e. g. in special cassettes.

Hereupon said trinitrotoluol or other explosives are removed from the cartridges by"washing"by the aid of a solution, e. g. ethylacetate or acetone, ejected from nozzles said solution is burnable and environmentally suited and cheap and said directing of the solution from the nozzles takes place in a dish washer. The empty cartridges are thereupon taken

care of for reuse and the trinitrotoluol which is solved in the solution is kept in a vessel, from which excess from ethylacetate might be recovered to achieve a rest, consisting of a nonexplosive, storable solution, which can be burnt in conventional heating devices.

By the washing up of the explosive out from the ammunition, where the same is dissolved or forms an emulsion, a more effective or secure method from a safety aspect is achieved than from a dismelting or mechanical treatment. Only limited amounts of explosives are further situated at the same time on the destructing line during operation. The solution of trinitrotoluol or other explosives achieved after the washing is storable for longer periods of time in contrast to a suspension, which can not be stored and in which existing parts very quickly deposit. Another advantage with the achieved rest of burnable solution is that great effort is required for an unskilled person to once more procure said trinitrotoluol from the solution, which in such a case must be done by for example evaporation. At last it must be said that the achieved solution with trinitrotoluol may preferably be used in several different types of combustion plants, since the solution per se does not wear on nozzles, pumps and valves in contrast to the case when the explosive should be in a state as a suspension.

The invention is described more in detail below, with the aid of a preferred embodiment example and with reference to the accompanying drawing, which schematically illustrates the principle according to the present invention.

As will be seen from the schematic drawing, the destruction of military explosives, especially trinitrotoluol, in artill- ery ammunition or mines is performed in that a mobile plant 1 according to the invention is used, which can be driven as close as possible up to an ammunition store 2, from which the ammunition 3 is removed from that which shall be destructed.

The ammunition 3 is fixed in position e. g. in cassettes, just before or in connection to he feeding of the same into the

plant, said plant in the first section 5 comprises a robot 6, which takes apart and separates the ignition fuses 8, which are in the ammunition 3, from the cartridges 7 containing the same. Then the cassettes 4 are fed together with the empty cartridges 7 further into a dish washer 9 of a belt type, where the trotyl existing in the cartridges 7 is washed out by the aid of a cheap solution 11 coming out from nozzles 10, said solution is burnable and environmentally suited and preferably consists of ethylacetate or mixtures of different solutions. Ethylacetate consists of a solution which has low toxicity and a low environmental influence. Other solutions can be used, e. g. toluen, bensen or mixtures of these solu- tions or mixtures of any of these solutions having suitable fuel or quality. A suitable type of dish washer which can be used is a tunnel dish washer.

After washing of the cartridges 7 fixed in position in the cassettes 4 these are taken care of for reuse. The solution with trinitrotoluol is gathered in a vessel 12, from which excess of ethylacetate can be reused, whereby a rest is achieved, which consists of a non-explosive, storable solu- tion having low toxicity, which can be burnt in conventional heating devices, e. g. in the form of a gas turbine or a steam turbine boiler 13. By this method the plant can also deliver electricity by aid of a power station 14 to an existing power electric mains 15, which in a similar case essentially decreases the costs of destruction.

As will be seen from the schematic illustration, the device for destructing military explosives consists of a mobile plant 1 comprising a first section 5, in which a robot 6 is provided to take apart and separate the ignition fuses 8 in the ammunition 3 from their cartridges 7, and a second sec- tion 16 in the form of a belt dish washer 9 of a tunnel type for washing said trinitrotoluol out from the cartridges 7 by the aid of a solution 11 spread into the cartridges via nozzles 10. In this way a total cleaning of said cartridges 7 is provided without any gathering of trinitrotoluol in said cartridges by the aid of said solution, said solution in

relation to the trinitrotoluol which shall be removed has an amount rate which is less than 1 kg trinitrotoluol per 10 liter solution. Further the solution 11 is used without any special warming up during the washing, whereby said solution can have a temperature of between 0 and 50°C and preferably between 5 and 30°C.

As will be seen from the schematic drawing a container 17 is provided to collect empty cartridges 7, which have been washed for reuse and in connection to the dish washer 9 the solution 18 with trinitrotoluol is fed further after the removing of excess of ethylacetate for storage in barrels or the like or directly to a unit 19 comprising a gas turbine 13 and a small electricity power station 14 for electricity production directly to power electric mains 15 or alter- natively to a tank 20 intended for operation of a district heating power plant or the like.

The cassettes 4 which are used in and for fixing in position of the ammunition 3 in connection to taking apart and separ- ating the ignition fuses 8 from trinitrotoluol, comprises means known per se, which fix the cartridges 7 in position either by friction and/or by the aid of a clamping arrange- ment of a type known per se, and said cassettes 4 are besides used for the fixing in position of the cartridges 7 during the washing of trinitrotoluol out from the same in the dish washer 9.