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The cause of the explosion was the ignition of ammonium nitrate used as raw material for fertilizer and explosives. [citation needed] Australia Taroom, Queensland 30 August 1972: 3 12 In the 1972 Taroom explosion, a truck carrying 12 tons of ammonium nitrate experienced an electrical fault and caught fire north of Taroom, Queensland. After the ...
The 1924 Nixon Nitration Works disaster was an explosion and fire that claimed many lives and destroyed several square miles of New Jersey factories. [1] It began on March 1, 1924, about 11:15 a.m., when an explosion destroyed a building in Nixon, New Jersey (an area within present-day Edison, New Jersey) used for processing ammonium nitrate. [2]
Fifteen people were killed, more than 160 were injured, and more than 150 buildings were damaged or destroyed. Investigators confirmed that ammonium nitrate was the material that exploded. [8] On May 11, 2016, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives stated that the fire had been deliberately set. [1] That finding has been ...
The presence of chlorides, from a cooling water leak, in the neutralizer and rundown tank; Lack of monitoring of the ammonium nitrate plant after the plant was shut down with the process vessels charged. The EPA had conducted a safety audit at the plant just eight months prior to the explosion. [8]
Grandcamp had a mixed cargo, containing chiefly ammonium nitrate, but also twine, peanuts, tobacco, some small arms ammunition, engineering equipment, and cotton. [2]: 1 The ammonium nitrate, needed either as fertilizer or an explosive, was manufactured in Nebraska and Iowa and shipped to Texas City by rail before being loaded onto Grandcamp. [4]
A fire department spokesman confirmed that firefighters had used water in combating the initial fire, which may have led to water being sprayed on calcium carbide, releasing the highly flammable gas acetylene. This would have provided the fuel source for reaction with the oxidizer, ammonium nitrate, thus triggering its detonation more readily. [46]
As ammonium nitrate is a salt, both the cation, NH + 4, and the anion, NO − 3, may take part in chemical reactions. Solid ammonium nitrate decomposes on heating. At temperatures below around 300 °C, the decomposition mainly produces nitrous oxide and water: NH 4 NO 3 → N 2 O + 2 H 2 O. At higher temperatures, the following reaction ...
[79] [25] The 2,750 tonnes (3,030 short tons) of ammonium nitrate was the equivalent to around 1,155 tonnes of TNT (4,830 gigajoules). [80] The failure to remove the materials from the warehouse and relocate them was attributed to mismanagement of the port, corruption of the government, and inaction of the flag registry's country and ship owner.