Whom amongst us could ever have seen that coming?

  • JayDee@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    26·
    2 days ago

    Article on it.

    • Article says ‘mishandling’.
    • Shipment was in two shiploads from China.
    • article also says the fuel type was ‘sodium perchlorate’-based.

    Thoughts overall on what factors contributed? Is sodium perchlorate super volatile?

    Edit: Wikipedia says that sodium perchlorate mixtures used in rockets and fireworks are not shock-sensitive and do not spontaneously detonate.

    • Agent641@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      16·
      2 days ago

      It’s a precursor to Ammonium perchlorate, which is the preferred format for solid fuel rocket motors. It would have been converted in a relatively simple chemical processing plant.

      It was purchased from a Chinese chemical company in its precursor because it’s not a weapons grade chemical, it can be used for many things. We all know what it was going to be used for, and who would have used it.

      • JayDee@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        9·
        2 days ago

        That makes more sense, since ammonium perchlorate can be shock-sensitive and reacts with various chemicals.

        So it’s possible this happened while/after synthesizing the sodium perchlorate into ammonium perchlorate.

        Edit: I am maybe jumping the gun here, I’m not sure at all whether this was being synthesized at time of explosion.

        • Agent641@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
          10·
          2 days ago

          I doubt they would do that sort of synthesis in a port facility. It would have been shipped elsewhere to a military production facility first.

          I reckon the Sodium perchlorate was just part of the explosion, there was probably some other nitrates and volatile chemicals stored there when the smoking accident took place. It’s not yet clear if we are talking Marlboro cigarettes or Noblesse.