But for the compound to figure in an explosion of this magnitude, chemists and explosives experts say a lot has to go wrong. What leveled Beirut on Tuesday sounds eerily similar to descriptions of a massive 1947 explosion in Texas City, Texas. Lebanese authorities are blaming the incident on more than 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate, a substance commonly used in fertilizers as well as in explosives for mining and construction projects. Between 6,000 and 12,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate is stored at Orica's Kooragang plant in Newcastle The plant is within 800m of North Stockton residents and 3km of the Newcastle CBD Orica says safe storage of the chemical is strictly regulated and audited Lebanon's Interior Minister said 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate was in the Beirut blast. Ammonium nitrate, which is used in fertilizers and bomb making, is a salt made from ammonium and nitric acid, and it is highly explosive. “It’s relatively difficult to make pure ammonium nitrate go off unless you add things to it and cook it in a giant fire,” says Davin Piercey, a chemist at Purdue University. Ship carrying ammonium nitrate behind Beirut blast passed through Istanbul Nerdun Hacıoğlu - MOSCOW. Nearby stores of ammonium nitrate then caught fire and exploded in the major port city, which lies 110km (70 miles) south-east of the capital Beijing. Fenianos, caretaker PM Hassan Diab and ex-ministers Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zoaiter have recently been charged with negligence … If the 2,700-tonne figure is accurate, that would make the ammonium nitrate explosion larger than the 1947 Texas City Disaster, when a consignment of 2,300 tonnes of ammonium nitrate … Ammonium nitrate is a common industrial chemical used mainly for fertiliser because it is a good source of nitrogen for plants. But the compound can contribute to explosions because it belongs to a chemical class known as oxidizers. All ammonium nitrate plants produce an aqueous ammonium nitrate solution through the reaction of ammonia and nitric acid in a neutralizer. “Ammonium nitrate does not degrade with time under normal storage conditions,” he says. To produce a solid product, the ammonium nitrate solution is concentrated in an evaporator or concentrator. Why we will not forgive the men who did this to Beirut, Full report: Huge explosion rocks Lebanese capital, ‘We’re cursed’: shock and despair in Beirut as explosion devastates city, 2,700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded, killed more than 170 people and left hundreds injured, The majority of those killed were firefighters. Rescuers searched for survivors in Beirut in the morning after a cataclysmic explosion at the port sowed devastation across entire neighbourhoods, killing more than 100 people, wounding thousands and plunging Lebanon deeper into crisis. Other health issues, akin to those seen after 9/11, may emerge given the widespread destruction to buildings and roads. While the chemicals in the air should dissipate fairly quickly, lingering pollutants can cause problems later, for example if they acidify rain. Given that these back-of-the-envelope calculations come with a wide margin of error, the estimate is consistent with the 2,750 tons that Lebanese officials say was stored by the port. Using math pioneered in the 1940s to infer the atomic bomb’s yield, experts can analyze videos of a shockwave to get rough estimates of an explosion’s total energy and how much material blew up. Documents unearthed by Al Jazeera say the ammonium nitrate arrived in Beirut aboard a Russian-owned cargo ship after the vessel experienced mechanical problems at sea. Last modified on Thu 13 Aug 2020 11.31 EDT. WASHINGTON: Ammonium nitrate, which Lebanese authorities have said was the cause of the Beirut blast, is an odorless crystalline substance commonly used … When something burns, it requires oxygen—that’s why fire extinguishers can easily put out flames by smothering them. If the ammonium nitrate in Beirut was stored in wooden or cardboard containers, it would have made the substance incredibly flammable, says Jimmie Oxley, a chemist at the University of Rhode Island. Beirut rescuers give up after sensors gave false hopes of more survivors, A city in need of miracles: few glimmers of hope in Beirut's reconstruction effort, Possible sign of life detected under Beirut rubble weeks after blast, Beirut explosion: FBI to take part in Lebanon investigation, Beirut blast: judge questions security chiefs as third minister resigns, Beirut explosion: protests outside parliament call for fall of government, Lebanon information minister quits in first cabinet resignation since blast, Time for a full clearout. If the 2,700-tonne figure is accurate, that would make the ammonium nitrate explosion larger than the 1947 Texas City Disaster, when a consignment of 2,300 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded, killing nearly 500 people. Beirut strangers treated me like a … Approximately 60 percent of the ammonium nitrate produced in the U. S. is sold as a solid product. The shipment was eventually abandoned, and its cargo moved into the hangar where it remained, despite Lebanese custom officials requesting its disposal on at least six different occasions, according to The New York Times. © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society, © 2015- Blast calculations suggest that at sea level, an explosion like Beirut’s would require about 1,000 tons of ammonium nitrate. Moreover, the decomposition of ammonium nitrate can create byproducts known as nitrogen oxides, which are known to cause respiratory distress. The blast filled Beirut’s air with particulate matter, one of the most common forms of air pollution. Though Jeffrey Lewis, an arms control expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, estimates it’s probably closer to 400 tons. The deadly explosion in Beirut has been blamed on thousands of tonnes of the chemical used in fertilisers and explosives, Tue 4 Aug 2020 21.59 EDT Share on Pinterest. It is a good source of nitrogen for plants but in the right (or wrong) circumstances it is also highly explosive, as has been seen in the numerous terrifying videos of the Beirut blast which have gone viral. The images coming out of Beirut are also horribly reminiscent of the destruction inflicted on the Chinese city of Tianjin by a 2015 warehouse disaster that killed more than 170 people and left hundreds injured. Any carbon-rich fuel—paper, cardboard, or even sugar—can pair with ammonium nitrate to produce more intense energy. Fireworks and ammonium nitrate appear to have been the fuel that ignited a massive explosion that rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut, experts and videos of the blast suggest. The devastating explosion in Beirut should be a wake-up call for countries on the dangers of ammonium nitrate, which caused the blast, experts say. The August 4 blast that left more than 190 dead was caused by 2,750 tons of the volatile ammonium nitrate that caught fire. 2020 National Geographic Partners, LLC. However, da Silva said, it ignites only under the right circumstances, and these are difficult to achieve. Given the reported amount, Oxley hypothesizes that a vehicle must have been used to carry the compound inside, and that could have contaminated it with oil or gasoline. Ammonium Nitrate is used by the military around the world as an explosive as well as in terrorist activities like the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, killing 168 people. “If you look at the smoke that came from the blast it’s this kind of blood red colour. The computational fluid dynamics blast study of the 2,750-tonne ammonium nitrate explosion shows the blast wave loading around the harbour asymmetrically because of … In April 1995, American terrorists Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols used two tons of the compound in a truck-bomb attack on the Oklahoma City federal building; 168 people were killed. “I think that’s what’s happened here,” said da Silva. An explosion of ammonium nitrate was responsible for the worst industrial accident in US history in 1947. Compared to most combustible materials, ammonium nitrate itself is not exceptionally explosive. Seventy-five years later, National Geographic revisits the elusive horror of Hiroshima. Beirut mayor Marwan Abboud told Agence France-Presse that 300,000 people are unable to return to their homes, as the damage covered half the city and could cost up to $15 billion to repair. The Roseburg Blast: A truck carrying dynamite and 4.5 tons of ammonium nitrate caught … Ammonium Nitrate, Which Caused Beirut Blast, Has a Bloodied Past With Several Industrial Accidents. All about ammonium nitrate — chemical behind the massive blast in Lebanon’s Beirut While ammonium nitrate does not combust on its own, it can explode if contaminated by a flammable substance like oil, or if it comes in contact with fire. Though Lebanese authorities have said ammonium nitrate was the culprit in the blast, Lewis notes that in many cases commercial explosives are referred to as just this compound even though they contain additives. Reconstructing exactly what went wrong in Beirut will be difficult, but Chavez says officials should look for evidence of improper storage, confinement, contamination, lack of ventilation, and potential sources of ignition. Indian Regulation For Ammonium Nitrate . An aerial view shows the massive damage at Beirut port's grain silos and the surrounding area on August 5, 2020, one day after a massive explosion hit the heart of the Lebanese capital. Even a small amount of contamination would have made the ammonium nitrate more likely to detonate. • This article was amended on 13 August 2020 to remove a reference to the 1947 Texas City explosion causing a “tidal” wave, and to clarify some of the properties of ammonium nitrate. By contrast, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945 had a yield of at least 13,000 tons of TNT. © 2020 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. In his statement on Thursday, Rifi said he told Sawwan that quantities from the ammonium nitrate shipment had been used by the Syrian regime and … That’s because of the nitrogen oxide air pollutants in it,” he said. Look closely at footage of downtown Beirut, and you can see the ground warp and buckle just after the blast erupted from the warehouse on August 4. Such investigations may take time. On the night of 12 August a series of cataclysmic detonations rocked an area of warehouses where large quantities of hazardous chemicals, also including sodium cyanide and potassium nitrate, were being stored, in some cases illegally. Piling up large amounts of ammonium nitrate allows more heat to be contained for longer when a mixture burns. Ammonium nitrate is used for both fertilizer and controlled blasting at mines and quarries in Canada and around the world. August 10, 2020 by admin 0 Comments. Ammonium nitrate is formed when ammonia gas is combined with liquid nitric acid. The more ammonium nitrate… The huge change in phase creates a shockwave.”. Available for everyone, funded by readers, Signs of life detected in remains of building by port in Lebanon’s capital were of fellow rescuers, Business is strong for glaziers but the mood among most rescuers and residents is sombre, Search renewed after pulsing signal that may be heartbeat heard under collapsed building, US diplomat David Hale calls for a thorough and transparent investigation into the blast. On paper, ammonium nitrate is highly regulated in India. Bags containing ammonium nitrate fertilizer are dispalyed in an agricultural trader in Vieillevigne, France, October 7, 2016. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/08/deadly-history-ammonium-nitrate-explosive-linked-to-beirut-blast.html, math pioneered in the 1940s to infer the atomic bomb’s yield. Why Beirut’s ammonium nitrate blast was so devastating. Cell phone videos also show the shockwave and dust cloud rushing through the portside buildings, leaving behind scenes of carnage in the Lebanese capital. Share on Twitter. There are also longer-term effects to consider. Former justice minister and ex-Internal Security Forces head Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi said Thursday that he has testified before Judge Fadi Sawwan that Iran had sent the ammonium nitrate shipment that eventually caused the August 4 catastrophic explosion at Beirut’s port. "If the pictures are right, this was something meant to be an oxidizer used with other agents," such as explosives used for mining, he says. Measured using this method, onlookers estimated the blast was roughly equivalent to 400 to 3,000 tons of TNT, an explosive material that’s also used as a unit to measure the destructiveness of explosions. Share on LinkedIn . The scale of the damage — from the epicenter of the explosion at the port of Beirut to the windows blown out kilometers (miles) away — resembles other blasts involving the chemical compound commonly used … What detonated the explosive compound remains unclear—but the Beirut blast is not the first time ammonium nitrate has led to calamity. Perhaps the closest comparison to Beirut's explosion, in terms of scale, is a blast in Texas City in 1947, which was caused by 2,300 US tons (about 2,087 metric tons) of ammonium nitrate. (Seventy-five years later, National Geographic revisits the elusive horror of Hiroshima.). It is not used as an explosive on its own, rather it is an oxidiser and makes a fire more intense, according to Gabriel da Silva, a senior lecturer in chemical engineering at the University of Melbourne. 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