Posted on 04/18/2013 2:02:16 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
(Newser) – News outlets are digging into the West Fertilizer plant's regulatory filings and finding that, in light of the explosion that may have killed as many as 15 people and injured about 160, the plant might have undersold the risks a tad. While the company did tell regulators it had up to 54,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia on hand, it said there was "no" fire or explosive risk, Fox News reports. It said the absolute worst-case scenario would be an essentially harmless 10-minute gas leak.
In other developments:
The owners of the Titanic said it couldn’t sink.
It is curious how such a non-organic substance could be so vital to farming. I understand its an important element in revitalizing the soil.
When I saw that explosion i was thinking about how all that energy being realized was intended to go into our food and thus power us.
Somehow I don’t think that’s what the owners meant. Of course its going to explode if you get it hot enough and give it an ignition source as a major fire will do.
The local government knew this too which is why they started evacuating the town.
My "NOT organic" was a slam against the pop culture fad of "organic" foods grown with "organic" fertilizer as opposed to manufactured fertilizer, made from mineral deposits.
There is really no difference, as the elemental and compound chemicals are the same, just produced from different sources.
And yes, plants love nitrogen compounds, as there IS a lot of energy stored in the molecules. A wonderful system the Lord has created.
Did you bother to read my post? Apparently not. Texas city explosion was caused when it was mixed with oil. Without the oil, it’s not an issue.
Yep. Now if you mix NOx with Aniline you can make diazonium nitrite - which is so unstable it is hard to collect a sample of.
Look it up. Fuel oil leaked into the ammonium ntrite.
According to our site explosion expert at the time of the Ok city bombing, the purity of the Amonium nitrite is important also. If they had sold a less pure product (95% or less), then the use as an explosive would have been negligible.
According to our site explosion expert at the time of the Ok city bombing, the purity of the Amonium nitrite (SIC) is important also. If they had sold a less pure product (95% or less), then the use as an explosive would have been negligible.
First, there are no reports of fuel oil in the ammonium nitrate loaded at Texas City. It was prepared farming fertilizer, in paper sacks, and mixed with clay, rosin, petrolatum and paraffin wax to avoid aggregation. While rosin, petrolatum and paraffin wax all are combustible, they nowhere approach the BTU content of fuel oil.
Secondly, the purity of ammonium nitrate was 38%, and it in fact exploded, because, it was contained in a sealed hold that was pressurized with steam.
The Grandcamp's Captain, also unfamiliar with chemistry, attempted to starve the fire of oxygen, not understanding that ammonium nitrate IS the oxidizer, and becomes explosive when confined under pressure, or is subject to a shock-wave in aggregated crystalline form. Thirdly, the High Flyer, docked alongside, then burned and exploded in the same manner from her load of ammonium nitrate confined in the hold.
Fourthly, Amonium (SIC) nitrite (NH4NO2) is not ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3), and you should know the difference.
Lastly, when you post "look it up", you post a link with it.
And keep your kid away from that ammonium nitrite.
So do you then believe that the explosion was caused by something else besides the fire-chemical mix?
So what caused the explosion at Texas City? The steam pressure from the way it was stored?
This plant had tank cars of anhydrous ammonia. There was ammonium nitrate in the plant. This was a hazardous facility, a hazard just waiting to happen. I am a chemical engineer, with 40 plus years experience. Even when we could buy ammonium nitrate (before Oklahoma City), I would not keep more than 50 lbs on hand for fertilizer use.
Any plant like this should never be allowed in a residential area. This plant should have been located in the center of several hundred acres, far away from any business or residential area. The ptb who allowed this plant to be where it was located should be responsible for the destruction of life, limb, property from this explosion.
And unless the Federal Govt was compliant in the location of this factory, the whole cost of this should be born by the company and or local/state authorities. None from the Feds.
This plant had tank cars of anhydrous ammonia. There was ammonium nitrate in the plant. This was a hazardous facility, a hazard just waiting to happen. I am a chemical engineer, with 40 plus years experience. Even when we could buy ammonium nitrate (before Oklahoma City), I would not keep more than 50 lbs on hand for fertilizer use.
Any plant like this should never be allowed in a residential area. This plant should have been located in the center of several hundred acres, far away from any business or residential area. The ptb who allowed this plant to be where it was located should be responsible for the destruction of life, limb, property from this explosion.
And unless the Federal Govt was compliant in the location of this factory, the whole cost of this should be born by the company and or local/state authorities. None from the Feds.
No, the explosion was inevitable because the ammonium nitrate was contained in a confined space in a strong vessel.
The ship effectively was a bomb casing.
The only possibility of avoiding the explosion would be to completely flood the hold with water at the first sign of fire, and then you may run out of time, as ships are not designed to be flooded rapidly for this purpose.
All that was necessary was for the temperature to be raised on the confined ammonium nitrate.
Ammonium nitrate does not even need to be confined to explode, if it is in aggregated form. That occurs when it is reasonably pure and moisture has dissolved and reformed it from granules to larger crystals that cannot be separated.
On September 21, 1921, at the BASF fertilizer plant in Oppau Germany, an attempt at disaggregation of a fertilizer mix with industrial explosives caused the death of 561 people and left more than 2000 injured.
The dummies shocked unconfined, crystalline ammonium nitrate that was too pure.
Is that how it was in West also? Any temperature rise would have caused an explosion?
I don't know, I am not familiar with the physical facts of the West, Texas plant, and I have not addressed that facility in any of my posts.
I'm gonna have to wait for the facts to become available.
The details are still sketch as to what chemicals they had on site and what was on fire.
The site supposedly only had anhydrous ammonia. It is very hard to make that blow up. Two options are:
BLEVE - Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion
Vapor Cloud Explosion - A large vapor release of ammonia igniting due to the fire.
However, there don’t seem to be many reports of Ammonia exposures.
This source, below, says that there was a ammonium nitrite rail car that was the source of the explosion.
“Authorities suspect the blast was set off by a rail car holding a large quantity of ammonia nitrate that somehow caught fire or blew up. The Obama offical told The Post that investigators are now trying to determine whether the ammonia nitrate-carrying train was on the fertilizer plant’s property or on an adjacent site.
That question is critical, the official said, because the plant does not list ammonium nitrate as a chemical that it handles under the plant’s emergency plan on file with federal regulators — as it should be if the plant does handle such a chemical.
“There’s no ammonium nitrate reporting on their emergency plan,” the official said, noting that that plan was most recently reviewed by regulators in 2011.”
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/waco_plant_explosion_kills_criminal_HKroeaVUFAbVElwYRoRKHM
I don’t see any vessels on the site that look like they store anhydrous ammonia. I am used to seeing it stored in long horizontal white cylinders.
Here they say:::
“The West facility stores anhydrous ammonia, a fertilizer produced from fossil fuels, such as natural gas and coal, used to feed crops, prevent diseases and fight off pests.
West Fertilizer mixes dry fertilizer and stores anhydrous ammonia in large tanks. Agricultural anhydrous ammonia must be stored under high pressure in specially designed tanks and must be handled with care.”
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100654345
Anhydrous ammonia breaks down at 400 degrees.
Your information is not correct.
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