A huge explosion in the Lebanese capital, with an explosion of 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate, once again sounded the alarm for us

The Beirut explosion in Lebanon has caused thousands of deaths and injuries, and the direct and indirect losses may be as high as 15 billion U.S. dollars. The Prime Minister confirmed that the explosion of 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate has caused at least 149 deaths and 5,000 injuries, and dozens of others are missing.

Ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3), itself is a kind of explosive, can be reacted by heating or hammering. An explosion is actually a process of rapidly releasing a large amount of energy, rapidly compressing surrounding solids, liquids or gases, generating and transmitting shock waves to produce a destructive effect. Whether it is a physical explosion of pressure vessel blasting, a chemical explosion such as explosive explosion, or a nuclear explosion, it is the same.

There are positive (nitrogen from nitrate) and negative nitrogen (nitrogen from ammonium ion) in ammonium nitrate, and they just constitute the necessary oxidizing and reducing agents in a redox reaction. In this reaction, solid ammonium nitrate releases a large amount of gas instantly, and its volume expands rapidly. The reaction also releases a lot of heat at the same time, which causes the gas to expand due to heat, and the local pressure further increases sharply. The gas diffuses around and transmits pressure under the action of pressure, producing shock waves and destructive effects, which form an explosion.

When one kilogram of ammonium nitrate explodes, nine hundred liters of gas can be produced. So how much gas will be produced when 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate explode? The answer is how much is 2700000 times 900? It seems that it cannot be corrected. The explosive power of 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate is equivalent to hundreds of tons of TNT explosives.

It can be said that chemical explosions have occurred frequently over the years:

In the early morning of April 16, 1.1947, a cargo ship called Grand Camp caught fire in Texas City, USA, detonating 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate on board. The explosion killed approximately 600 people and injured more than 3,500.

2. On September 21, 2001, 20 to 120 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded in the AZF chemical plant in Toulouse, France, with a TNT equivalent of 20 to 40 tons. The accident resulted in 31 deaths and about 2500 injuries. The accident chemical plant and surrounding areas suffered devastating effects.

3. In the early morning of March 16, 2001, a huge explosion occurred in Shijiazhuang. According to incomplete statistics, the explosion caused 100 deaths.

4. At 22:51:46 on August 12, 2015, a fire and explosion accident occurred in the Ruihai Company's dangerous goods warehouse in Tianjin Port, Binhai New District, Tianjin. The total explosion energy in this accident was about 450 tons of TNT equivalent, and a total of 165 people were killed. .

On August 5, 2020, the Office of the State Council’s Security Committee and the Emergency Management Department held a meeting to learn from the lessons of the major explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, and deploy a national special inspection and rectification of hazardous chemical storage safety. The meeting pointed out that my country is a major chemical country in the world, and there are a large number of ports, docks, warehouses, storage yards, and transport vehicles and ships involving hazardous chemicals, and safety risks are increasing. The major explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, once again sounded the alarm for us. The meeting called for an immediate national special inspection and rectification of hazardous chemical storage safety, focusing on ports, docks, logistics warehouses, chemical parks, etc. (Source: Weibo of the Emergency Management Department) ,News Feeds).

Hazardous chemicals are like "time bombs" that threaten public safety. How to prevent explosion accidents?

It is necessary to monitor the on-site situation where flammable and explosive gas may occur from time to time, because if there is flammable and explosive gas at the scene, it will explode when encountering an open flame at a certain concentration, leading to accidents. Such as hydrogen (H2), carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH4), ethane (C2H6), propane (C3H8), butane (C4H10), ethylene (C2H4), propylene (C3H6), butene (C4H8), acetylene (C2H2), propyne (C3H4), butyne (C4H6), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), phosphine (PH3), etc. are all flammable and explosive gases.

Wanandi is a manufacturer of gas detectors. To detect flammable and explosive gases in the air, you can use Wanandi gas detectors. Wanandi gas detectors meet the following testing requirements:

1. Detect whether the gas has an explosion risk, and measure the explosive properties of the gas;

2. Check whether the gas has a risk of leakage, the concentration value of the measured gas and the explosive properties of the measured gas;

3. Check whether the on-site environmental discharge or the gas concentration produced meets the relevant national environmental protection discharge requirements;

4. Detect various gases produced in the production process, monitor and control them, and make their concentration values meet the needs of production.