Technical Resource
Cartridge Emulsion Explosives
Packaged product is hand-loaded. Stainless gear pumps move bulk matrix, not cartridges.
Cartridge emulsion explosives are packaged, plant-sensitized product in a film or cartridge. They are loaded by hand. They are not a bulk fluid, and they are not something a gear pump transfers.
NAPCO does not manufacture explosives, cartridges, or packaged blasting agents. We build the stainless rotary gear pumps that move unsensitized bulk matrix, AN solution, and high-emulsion blends between tanks, silos, and loading trucks. See explosives and mining for the industry page.
If you came here looking for a cartridge SKU, talk to your explosives supplier. If you came here because a plant or truck has to move bulk emulsion, stay on this page long enough to get the split right.
What cartridge emulsion is
A cartridge is finished product. The plant makes a water-in-oil ammonium nitrate emulsion, sensitizes it (usually with glass or plastic microballoons), and packs it in a film or cartridge. The hole is loaded by hand.
That is the right answer for small blast patterns, wet holes a truck cannot reach, and sites with no bulk infrastructure.
It costs more per kilogram than bulk-delivered matrix. The extra cost buys packaging, plant sensitization, and the ability to load a hole without a truck.
Physical sensitization with microballoons, on the order of 100 microns, is more common in packaged emulsion than in bulk. Bulk systems usually gas at the hole. Do not treat those two products as the same fluid in a different wrapper.
The longer map of the bulk family is bulk emulsion products. This page is the packaged side of that split.
Cartridge vs bulk vs ANFO
Three searches get mixed together. They are not interchangeable.
Straight ANFO is dry ammonium nitrate prill plus about 6% fuel oil. It is poured or blown. It is never pumped. Details: pumping ammonium nitrate emulsion and ANFO.
Cartridge emulsion is packaged, plant-sensitized explosive. Hand loaded. No transfer pump.
Bulk emulsion products are made and delivered in tonnes, not sticks. Unsensitized matrix is typically handled as an oxidizer (UN3375, Class 5.1) until it is gassed or otherwise sensitized at the hole. A plant, silo, or truck then has a real pumping job.
Large surface mines run bulk because density, blend, and energy can change hole to hole. Cartridges stay in the holes a truck cannot serve.
Why cartridges are not pumped
A cartridge is a discrete package. You do not empty it into a gear pump.
If someone is asking for a “cartridge emulsion pump,” they usually mean one of two other jobs:
- They actually run bulk matrix and used the wrong product name.
- They want a high-pressure charging pump on an MMU. That is progressive cavity duty, not a NAPCO gear pump. See gear pumps vs progressive cavity pumps.
NAPCO pumps are surface transfer: tank to tank, plant to truck, silo to reload. Not borehole injection. Not cartridge manufacture.
When bulk transfer is the actual job
Stay on stainless. Ammonium nitrate attacks iron. Live product copy and the emulsion guides put this duty on the S models only.
The fluid you can pump is unsensitized matrix, hot AN solution, or a high-emulsion blend that the product TDS says is pumpable. Straight ANFO is augered. Already-gassed product down a blast hole is not a gear-pump job.
Shear matters. The emulsifier holds the oil-water interface. High-speed impellers tear it. Gear pumps move a fixed volume between teeth at low shaft speed. That is why they are the plant and truck-loading pump, not a slogan about being gentle. Working principle: rotary gear pump working principle.
Selection logic for the bulk side: pump selection for emulsion explosives and gear pumps for bulk emulsion trucks.
Which pump, if you are moving matrix
Specs below are from the live product pages, Rev. 07/2026. Water tables. Higher-viscosity fluids may require lower RPM. Do not invent a cartridge flow rate. There isn’t one.
PA300S
The PA300S is the 3-inch stainless pump. 158 GPM at 280 RPM and 10 PSI. 140 GPM at 100 PSI. 13.4 bhp at 100 PSI. Max 100 PSI, max 280 RPM, 173 lbs. 3-inch NPT.
Plant pump-over, truck loading, high-volume matrix transfer.
The live page names sensitized explosive bulk emulsion among the fluids this pump handles. That is still surface transfer. It is not a license to charge a hole with a gear pump.
PA200S
The PA200S is the 2-inch stainless pump. 69 GPM at 190 RPM and 10 PSI. 60 GPM at 100 PSI. 5.7 bhp at 100 PSI. Max 100 PSI, max 190 RPM, 114 lbs. 2-inch NPT.
Skids, smaller batch plants, auxiliary circuits where the 3-inch pump is oversized.
Both sizes prime themselves and run either direction. Nitrile gears are standard. Viton gears are the option for hot AN solution or aggressive formulations. Viton seals are already on every NAPCO pump.
Rebuild
A factory kit is gears, seals, bearings, and gaskets. 2 to 5 hours on the 3-inch (PK300S). 2 to 4 hours on the 2-inch (PK200S). Hand tools. The product pages put kit cost at 30 to 50 percent of a new pump.
Jobs this page is not
- Selling cartridge emulsion, packaged boosters, or detonators.
- Specifying a pump to empty cartridges.
- High-pressure downhole loading of gassed product.
- Specifying anything but stainless on an ammonium nitrate circuit.
If the fluid is diesel or fuel oil on the same pad, that is a different page: gear pumps for fuel and petroleum.
FAQ
What are cartridge emulsion explosives?
Plant-sensitized ammonium nitrate emulsion packed in a film or cartridge. They are finished blasting product, loaded by hand, used where a bulk truck cannot go.
Does NAPCO make cartridge emulsion?
No. NAPCO manufactures stainless rotary gear pumps for bulk matrix and AN solution transfer.
Can you pump cartridge emulsion?
No. Cartridges are packaged. If the product is bulk unsensitized matrix, yes: stainless gear pump, surface transfer, low shaft speed.
Cartridge vs bulk emulsion: which do I have?
If it comes in sticks or film cartridges and is loaded by hand, it is packaged. If it comes in a tanker, silo, or MMU as a thick matrix, it is bulk. Only the bulk side is a NAPCO pumping job.
Why stainless?
Ammonium nitrate corrodes iron. Stainless housings and shafts are the wetted materials for any AN or emulsion circuit. See stainless steel vs ductile iron pumps.
If you actually need to transfer bulk matrix
Send the product type (matrix, AN solution, or blend), flow rate, pressure, and temperature. We will confirm whether the grade is pumpable and which stainless pump and kit belong on the skid.