Ammonium polyphosphates

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR MANUFACTURE OF LONG-CHAIN CRYSTALLINE AMMONIUM POLYPHOSPHATE HAVING THE GENERAL FORMULA (NH4)MH(N-M)+2PNO3N+1, WHERE N IS GREATER THAN ABOUT 50 AND WHERE THE RATIO M/N IS IN THE RANGE FROM 1.04 TO ABOUT 0.85, WHICH PROCESS CONSISTS ESSENTIALLY OF THE STEPS OF HEATING RELATIVELY SHORT-CHAIN LENGTH WHERE N IS LESS THAN ABOUT 4 AMMONIUM PHOSPHATES SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF ORTHO-, PYRO-, TRIPOLY-, AND MIXTURES THEREOF, AT ABOUT ATMOSPERIC PRESSURE AND IN AN ATMOSPHERE OF AMMONIA, SAID ATMOSPERE OF AMMONIA MAINTAINED OVER THE AMMONIUM PHOSPHATE MATERIAL BY MEANS OF CONTINUOUSLY SWEEPING SAID AREA WITH GAS CONTAINING ABOUT 10 VOLUME PERCENT TO ABOUT 100 VOLUME PERCENT OF AMMONIA TO A TEMPERATURE IN THE RANGE OF ABOUT 250*C TO ABOUT 400$C FOR A PERIOD OF FROM ABOUT 1 HOUR TO ABOUT 16 HOURS TO DIRECTLY PRODUCE, WITH THE REQUIREMENT OF A CONDENSING AGENT ADDITIVE SUPPLIED THERETO SOLID LONG-CHAIN WHERE N IS GREATER THAN ABOUT 50 CRYSTALLINE AMMONIUM POLYPHOSPHATE, AND RECOVERING AND THE RESULT SOLID PRODUCT LONG-CHAIN CRYSTALLINE AMMONIUM POLYPHOSPHATES SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF CRYSTALLINE MODIFICATION FORMS I, II, IV, V, AND MIXTURES THEREOF, AND CONTAINING FROM ABOUT 12.5 TO ABOUT 14.5 PERCENT N, AND FROM ABOUT 69 TO ABOUT 73 PERCENT P2O5 BY WEIGHT AND REPRESENTING SUBSTANTIALLY ABOUT 100 PERCENT CONVERSION OF SAID RELATIVELY SHORTCHAIN LENGTH AMMONIUM POLYPHOSPHATES TO SAID LONG-CHAIN CRYSTALLINE AMMONIUM POLYPHOSPHATES.