Patent ID: 8585840

Claim:
A process for recovering the energetic component from a plastic bonded explosive comprised of an energetic component in a polymer matrix component, which process comprising: a) comminuting said plastic bonded explosive by contacting said plastic bonded explosive with a high pressure jet of water of an effective water pressure to cause said plastic bonded explosive to be comminuted into particles of a size ranging from about 6.5 mm to about 50 microns to expose said energetic component, wherein the effective water pressure is at least that pressure, as expressed in MPa, be calculated by multiplying the ultimate tensile strength of the polymer of the polymer matrix by 4.89; b) contacting the plastic bonded explosive particles with a solvent in which the energetic component is soluble and in which the polymer matrix component is substantially insoluble, thereby forming a solution of energetic component in solvent and solid particles of polymer matrix component; and c) separating the energetic component solvent solution from the solid particles of polymer matrix component.