Everyday products such as talcum powder, toothpaste, cosmetics and medicines contain minerals, all of which must be mined using explosives.  In fact it is difficult to think of any product that is not extracted from or improved upon through the use of explosives. The roadways we travel on and tunnels we travel through are built by first breaking rock using explosives. The cars we travel in contain steel, copper, aluminum, and zinc — all raw materials extracted from the ground using explosives. Our computers are built using gold, silver, copper and silica. Even our power sources — coal, fuel, natural gas pipelines, hydroelectric dams — are extracted or built using the power of explosives.

A typical explosive plant uses the emulsion manufacturing process. There can be two basic units, the emulsion matrix process and the blend process, when addition of glass microspheres or other solid additives are required.

The emulsion matrix process meters oxidizer solution and fuel oil emulsifier solution into a premix vessel with a variable speed agitator. The mixture is then pumped by a progressive cavity pump through a motionless mixer assembly to a storage vessel or alternatively to the blend process.

The blend process meters glass microspheres into a variable speed twin screw blender and is mixed with un–sensitized emulsion product. The sensitized product is then pump through a progressive cavity pump to a storage vessel.

From the storage vessel, the explosive is pumped to a specially designed tank truck for transportation to the site where it will be used. 

The very hazardous nature of explosives makes it imperative that instrumentation used in monitor and/or control level in the production process and the transportation of these materials is intrinsically safe. 

For many years Princo has been supplying several companies in the explosives industry with FM (Factory Mutual) Approved, Intrinsically safe, Null-Kote™ level transmitters and switches for many years.