The problem with things like this is that a functional advance in something as complex as firearms/artillery requires a whole number of things to be advanced. Better explosives/propellants you need stronger rifles/cannon which means better metallurgy to produce the actual metals, better means of creating the weapons (casting, rolling etc), primers to fire the weapon's charge and so forth. Making collodion for bandaging, or a plastic like Bakelite is much more of a stand alone advance.
Part of the problem is until you have chemistry based on some sort of real understanding of the different elements, and also measures of weight and volume that are relatively standard, reproducing products of a "chemical industry" can be iffy. Absent standards of composition, purity, volume, and weight a formula from one alchemist to another, especially across cultural lines (Muslim world to Christian world) is a very inexact recipe indeed.