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Ammonium nitrate is found as the natural mineral gwihabaite (formerly known as nitrammite)[9] – the ammonium analogue of saltpetre (mineralogical name: niter)[10][11] – in the driest regions of the Atacama Desert in Chile, often as a crust on the ground or in conjunction with other nitrate, iodate, and halide minerals. Ammonium nitrate was mined there until the Haber–Bosch process made it possible to synthesize nitrates from atmospheric nitrogen, thus rendering nitrate mining obsolete. Production, reactions and crystalline phases The industrial production of ammonium nitrate entails the acid-base reaction of ammonia with nitric acid:[12] HNO3 + NH3 → NH4NO3 The ammonia required for this process is obtained by the Haber process from nitrogen and hydrogen. Ammonia produced by the Haber process can be oxidized to nitric acid by the Ostwald process. Ammonia is used in its anhydrous form (a gas) and the nitric acid is concentrated.
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