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Industrial manufacturer Honeywell said Tuesday it has developed a new nitrogen-based fertilizer that is difficult to ignite — a discovery that could reduce criminals’ ability to make explosives used in major terrorist attacks like the Oklahoma City bombing.

Honeywell International Inc. said its patented fertilizer combines ammonium sulfate with ammonium nitrate, providing the nitrogen and sulfur needed for plant nutrition but making it largely useless as a fuel for explosives. The company said that when mixed with substances such as fuel oil — a volatile combination often used to make bombs — the new fertilizer did not detonate.

“The unique composition of this new fertilizer makes it extremely difficult to turn it into a weapon,” said Qamar Bhatia, vice president and general manager of Honeywell Resins & Chemicals, in a statement. “Ammonium nitrate has long been an excellent fertilizer, but this technology makes it safer.”

Fertilizer explosives were suspected in attacks that include the 2002 nightclub bombings in Bali, which killed 202 people, and the 1995 attack on a federal building in Oklahoma City with a two-ton bomb that killed 168. Five men linked to al-Qaida were sentenced in Britain to life in prison last year for stockpiling a half-ton of fertilizer for planned attacks on targets in London.

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