Yes, it does reduce its efficacy as a component in making explosives. The AN must be completely dry when mixed with an accelerant (fuel oil, diesel, etc) to give it its maximum explosive power. Too, for it to be anywhere close to any of the other HE explosives it has to be packed in containers such as 55 gallon drums AND, as stated before, it must have a primary charge such as blasting cap/s to initiate the detonation.
Question would be why, if Lebanon is hurting for food, would the Lebanese hold that much AN in storage, why would they not distribute it out to farmers for use in producing food crops?
The ammonium nitrate has been there for 6 years. Repeated letters over the years from the port authority were sent to request the gov get rid of it. They were ignored, but copies of the letters were posted in the arab world newspapers.
In the Texas City explosion, there was no detonator, and the AN was not packed in drums.
Basically there are dozens of cases of ships, railroad cars and buildings storing AN exploding. No nefarious actions are required. Accidental negligence is most often the cause.
Ammonium nitrate disasters
When heated,
ammonium nitrate decomposes non-explosively into
gases of
oxygen,
nitrogen, and
water vapor; however, it can be induced to decompose explosively by
detonation into
nitrous oxide and
water vapor[1]. Large stockpiles of the material can be a major
fire risk due to their supporting
oxidation, and may also detonate, as happened in the
Texas City disaster of 1947 which led to major changes in the regulations for storage and handling.
There are two major classes of incidents resulting in explosions:
- In the first case, the explosion happens by the mechanism of shock to detonation transition. The initiation happens by an explosive charge going off in the mass, by the detonation of a shell thrown into the mass, or by detonation of an explosive mixture in contact with the mass. The examples are Kriewald, Morgan, Oppau, Tessenderlo, and Traskwood.
- In the second case, the explosion results from a fire that spreads into the ammonium nitrate (AN) itself (Texas City, Brest, Tianjin, Beirut), or to a mixture of an ammonium nitrate with a combustible material during the fire. The fire must be confined at least to a degree for successful transition from a fire to an explosion (a phenomenon known as "deflagration to detonation transition", or DDT). Pure, compact AN is stable and very difficult to initiate. However, there are numerous cases when even impure AN did not explode in a fire.
Ammonium nitrate decomposes in temperatures above 210 °C (410 °F). Pure AN is stable and will stop decomposing once the heat source is removed, but when catalysts are present, the reaction can become self-sustaining (known as self-sustaining decomposition, or SSD). This is a well-known hazard with some types of
NPK fertilizers and is responsible for the loss of several cargo ships.
Here is a link to 30 huge AN explosions
en.wikipedia.org
It's a large table but lists the amounts and conditions of the detonations.
Also here is the story of the Texas City explosion
en.wikipedia.org
The
1947 Texas City disaster was an industrial accident that occurred on April 16, 1947, in the
Port of Texas City, Texas, at
Galveston Bay. It was the deadliest industrial accident in
U.S. history, and one of history's
largest non-nuclear explosions. A mid-morning fire started on board the
French-registered vessel SS
Grandcamp (docked in the port), and detonated her cargo of about 2,300
tons (about 2,086
metric tons) of
ammonium nitrate.
[1] This started a
chain reaction of fires and explosions in other ships and nearby
oil-storage facilities, ultimately killing at least 581 people, including all but one member of the Texas City fire department.
[2]
The disaster drew the first
class action lawsuit against the United States government, on behalf of 8,485 victims, under the 1946
Federal Tort Claims Act.
Ships
The
Grandcamp was a recently re-activated 437-foot-long (133 m)
Liberty ship. Originally named the SS
Benjamin R. Curtis in
Los Angeles in 1942, the ship served in the
Pacific theatre and was
mothballed in
Philadelphia after
World War II.
[3] In a
Cold War gesture, the ship was assigned by the United States to the
French Line to assist in the rebuilding of France, along with other efforts in
Europe. Along with the
ammonium nitrate—a very common cargo on the high seas—it was carrying small arms ammunition, machinery, and bales of
sisal twine on the deck. Another ship in the harbor, the SS
High Flyer, was docked about 600 feet (200 m) away from the SS
Grandcamp. The
High Flyer contained an additional 961 short tons (872 metric tons) of ammonium nitrate
[1] and 1,800 short tons (1,600 metric tons) of
sulfur. The
ammonium nitrate in the two ships and fertilizer in the adjacent warehouse was intended for export to farmers in Europe. The
Grandcamp had arrived from
Houston, where the port authority did not permit loading of ammonium nitrate.
Explosions
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 on the
Grandcamp.
[4] It was manufactured in a patented process, mixed with
clay,
petrolatum,
rosin and
paraffin wax to avoid moisture caking. It was packaged in
paper sacks, then transported and stored at higher temperatures that increased its chemical activity.
Longshoremen reported the bags were warm to the touch before loading.
On April 16, 1947, around 8:00 a.m. smoke was spotted in the cargo hold of the
Grandcamp while she was still moored. Over the next hour, attempts to extinguish the fire or bring it under control failed as a red glow returned after each effort to douse the fire.
Shortly before 9:00 a.m., the captain ordered his men to steam the hold, a firefighting method where steam is piped in to extinguish fires, in order to preserve the cargo. This was unlikely to be effective, as ammonium nitrate produces its own oxygen, thus neutralizing the extinguishing properties of steam. The steam may have contributed to the fire by converting the ammonium nitrate to
nitrous oxide, while augmenting the already intense heat in the ship's hold.
[5]
The fire attracted spectators along the shoreline, who believed they were at a safe distance.
[6] Eventually, the steam pressure inside the ship blew the hatches open, and yellow-orange smoke billowed out. This color is typical for
nitrogen dioxide fumes.
[1] The unusual color of the smoke attracted more spectators. Spectators also noted that the water around the docked ship was boiling from the heat, and the splashing water touching the hull was being vaporized into steam. The cargo hold and deck began to bulge as the pressure of the steam increased inside.
This 2-ton anchor was thrown more than 1.6 miles when the
Grandcamp exploded
At 9:12 a.m., the ammonium nitrate reached an explosive threshold from the combination of heat and pressure.
[7] The vessel
detonated, causing great destruction and damage throughout the port. The tremendous blast produced a 15-foot (4.5 m) wave that was detectable nearly 100 miles (160 km) from the Texas shoreline. The blast leveled nearly 1,000 buildings on land. The
Grandcamp explosion destroyed the
Monsanto Chemical Company plant and resulted in ignition of refineries and chemical tanks on the waterfront. Falling bales of burning twine from the ship's cargo added to the damage, and the
Grandcamp's anchor was hurled across the city. Two sightseeing airplanes flying nearby were blown out of the sky,
[8] while 10 miles (16 km) away, half of the windows in Galveston were shattered.
[9] The explosion blew almost 6,350 short tons (5,760 metric tons) of the ship's
steel into the air, some at
supersonic speed. Official casualty estimates came to a total of 567, including all the crewmen who remained aboard the
Grandcamp. All but one member of the 28-man Texas City volunteer fire department were killed in the initial explosion on the docks while fighting the shipboard fire. With fires raging throughout Texas City, first responders from other areas were initially unable to reach the site of the disaster.
The first explosion ignited ammonium nitrate in the nearby cargo ship
High Flyer. The crews spent hours attempting to cut the
High Flyer free from her anchor and other obstacles, in order to move her, without success. After smoke had been pouring from the hold for over 5 hours, and about 15 hours after the explosions aboard the
Grandcamp, the
High Flyer exploded, demolishing the nearby SS
Wilson B. Keene, killing at least two more people and increasing the damage to the port and other ships with more shrapnel and burning material. One of the propellers on the
High Flyer was blown off and subsequently found nearly a mile inland. It is now part of a memorial park and is located near the anchor of the
Grandcamp. The propeller is cracked in several places, and one blade has a large piece missing.
The cause of the initial fire on board the
Grandcamp was never determined. It may have been started by a cigarette discarded the previous day, meaning the ship's cargo had been smouldering throughout the night when the fire was discovered on the morning of the day of the explosion.
[1]
Scale of the disaster
A five-story rubber factory beside slip #1
The Texas City disaster is generally considered the worst
industrial accident in
American history. Witnesses compared the scene to the fairly recent images of the 1943
air raid on Bari and the much larger devastation after the atom bomb was dropped at
Nagasaki. Of the dead, 405 were identified and 63 have never been identified. The latter remains were placed in a memorial cemetery in the north part of Texas City near Moses Lake. An additional 113 people were classified as missing, for no identifiable parts were ever found. This figure includes
firefighters who were aboard
Grandcamp when she exploded. There is some speculation that there may have been hundreds more killed but uncounted, including visiting seamen, non-census laborers and their families, and an untold number of travelers. But there were also some survivors among people as close as 70 feet (21 m) from the dock. The victims' bodies quickly filled the local morgue. Several bodies were laid out in the local high school's gymnasium for identification by family or friends.
Parking lot 1⁄4 mile (400 m) away from the explosion
More than 5,000 people were injured, with 1,784 admitted to 21 area hospitals. More than 500 homes were destroyed and hundreds damaged, leaving 2,000 homeless. The seaport was destroyed, and many businesses were flattened or burned. Over 1,100 vehicles were damaged and 362 freight cars were obliterated; the property damage was estimated at $100 million
[10] (equivalent to $1.1 billion in 2019).
A 2-short-ton (1.8-metric-ton) anchor of
Grandcamp was hurled 1.62 miles (2.61 km) and found in a 10-foot (3 m) crater. It was installed at a memorial park. The other main 5-short-ton (4.5-metric-ton) anchor was hurled 1⁄2 mile (800 m) to the entrance of the Texas City Dike. It rests on a "Texas-shaped" memorial at the entrance. Burning wreckage ignited everything within miles, including dozens of
oil storage tanks and chemical tanks. The nearby city of
Galveston, Texas, was covered with an oily fog that left deposits over every exposed outdoor surface.
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