http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentaerythritol
Appearance white solid
white, crystalline polyol
dielectric fluid in transformers. Their low volatility and high flash point give them an excellent resistance to ignition
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PETN
one of the most powerful high explosives known
PETN's preparation involves the nitration of pentaerythritol with a mixture of concentrated nitric and sulfuric acid. The preferred method of nitration is the ICI method, which utilizes concentrated nitric acid (98%+) alone, as mixed acid can create unstable sulfonated by-products.
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http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/109618317/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
The presence of sulphuric acid impurity decreased the thermal stability as well as the activation energy...
-----------------------------Blatant speculation on my part: IF he was carrying PENTAERYTHRITOL (the white powder) and a mixture of Nitric acid and sulfuric acir (in the syringe) in an attempt to manufacture PETN on the plane; the sulfuric acid may have caused a small portion of the PETN being manufactured to become unstable... That might have set the original, as yet unmixed PENTAERYTHRITOL to burn, before it could be mixed in. SPECULATION
If he was carrying a syringe with concentrated nitric acid along or with sulfuric acid and squirting it into a small partially hidden container there he’s risking more than just thermal burns. Those strong acids can quickly eat flesh. If PET+acid = PETN is the chemistry in action than I’d think dilution and raising the pH with urine would stop things, unless perhaps the process was so far along that the heat generated by the acid base neutralization reaction were enough to set of any finished product.
If that is indeed the case, the hypo would have HAD to have been made of glass. Maybe the glass syringe busted in his pocket and he got burned by the acid.
Your speculation sounds like what was up on that plane fer’ sure.
A nitrates sniff, dog or machine, should still detect the powder, no?
-RT