Chemical Forums
General Forums => Generic Discussion => Topic started by: curiouscat on April 18, 2013, 01:17:35 AM
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http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57580172/doctor-60-dead-and-over-100-injured-in-texas-fertilizer-plant-blast/
This just might be one of the worst Chemical Disasters in a while.
I'm still awaiting reports on what actually happened but just shows how close potential for disaster is with Chemical Plants. Stay safe!
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I do hope this does not turn out to be as bad as first reported.
I was on a site in the late 80's which had a ~10T ammonia leak that killed 2 people and that was plenty bad enough for me.
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Perhaps this shows the power of an electrostatic charge?
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Perhaps this shows the power of an electrostatic charge?
What is the anatomy of a typical ammonia disaster? Just curious.
Wikipedia says:
"The combustion of ammonia in air is very difficult in the absence of a catalyst (such as platinum gauze), as the temperature of the flame is usually lower than the ignition temperature of the ammonia-air mixture. "
Its explosive range seems pretty narrow too: 15–28%
Autoignition Temp. is high above 650 C.
What makes for such a deadly explosion.
Unless of course it wasn't ammonia but the nitrate etc..
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It was probably a dust explosion caused by static electricity. That the factory used ammonia is probably incidental to the tragic event.
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This just might be one of the worst Chemical Disasters in a while.
I take that back. Now they (WSJ) are saying "The explosion killed between five and 15 people."
Still sad but 60 ≠ (5 + 15) / 2.
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Another discussion, this one I think on Reddit, suggested that it was a runaway exotherm in a batch of ammonium nitrate which was exposed to a fire. That seems believable.
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Well, here's a report that, while not addressing the reason for a runaway reaction, and then explosion, at least points to a source of the problem http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/20/17838304-red-flag-texas-plant-had-1350-times-amount-of-chemical-that-would-trigger-oversight?lite Briefly, there was significantly more raw material on-site than is allowed by Federal oversight.