Explosion fundamentals chemical explosions

Fundamental research in pyrotechnics is published in the US in Combustion and Flame by the Combustion Institute, and in the UK in Combustion Science and Technology and in Fuel . Germany has the new, journal, Propellants and Explosives (German Chemical Society), which is the successor to the discontinued Explosivstoffe . A necessary caveat is that these journals are strongly oriented toward combustion or propulsion so that only rarely do they yield pyrotechnic information. Likewise, the various publications of the learned societies contain much data on thermodynamics, spectroscopy, and instrumental analysis which are useful in the study of pyrotechnics. In the USSR the situation is somewhat better as Physics of Combustion and Explosion (Fizika Gorenia i Vzryva) of the Siberian Branch Academy of Sciences USSR is exclusively oriented toward subjects of interest, as several scientific institutes are primarily devoted to research in pyrotechnics. The same authors do publish also, however, in the journals of the Academy of Science USSR (of which there are several) as well as in the corresponding journals of the academies of the various republics, so that the impression is created of a high level of activity... 

Safety issues are not covered here. These are dealt with in Systems and Equipment book, and some fundamental issues will be taken up in the second edition of the Fundamentals book. The following aspects should be taken into account in system design fan safety AHU fire protection issues safety measures in mines, tunnels, underground car parks, etc. transportation of chemical and explosives. 

D. R. Stuwl, Fundamentals of Fires and Explosions, Vol. 73, American Institute of Chemical Enginccrs-Dow Chemical Company, Midland Ml, 1977. 

Nitric acid is one of the three major acids of the modem chemical industiy and has been known as a corrosive solvent for metals since alchemical times in the thirteenth centuiy. " " It is now invariably made by the catalytic oxidation of ammonia under conditions which promote the formation of NO rather than the thermodynamically more favoured products N2 or N2O (p. 423). The NO is then further oxidized to NO2 and the gases absorbed in water to yield a concentrated aqueous solution of the acid. The vast scale of production requires the optimization of all the reaction conditions and present-day operations are based on the intricate interaction of fundamental thermodynamics, modem catalyst technology, advanced reactor design, and chemical engineering aspects of process control (see Panel). Production in the USA alone now exceeds 7 million tonnes annually, of which the greater part is used to produce nitrates for fertilizers, explosives and other purposes (see Panel). 

Stull, D. R., Fundamentals of Fire Explosion, Monograph Series, No. 10, Vol 73, The Dow Chemical Co., published Amer. Inst. Chem. Engrs., 1977. 

Research had helped Du Pont convert from explosives to consumer goods. The company opened the first modern research laboratory in the American chemical industry in 1902. By 1921, the United States had more than 500 industrial research laboratories eager to duplicate goods previously imported from Germany. Most American industrial laboratories applied known scientific facts to practical problems, however. Thus, Du Pont s offer to Carothers embodied the first attempt by an American chemical manufacturer to discover new fundamental scientific explanations for natural phenomena. If Carothers was willing to work for industry, Du Pont was an attractive choice. 

Stull, 1977 Fundamentals of Fire and Explosion, AIChE Monograph Series No. 10, Stull, D. R., New York, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, 1977... 

Preliminaries. The combustion of suspended dusts and powders is quite complex and only imperfectly understood. The complexity stems from both fundamental and practical considerations. On the fundamental side, the ignition of suspensions of finely divided solids is influenced by hard-to-quantify factors such as the time-varying concentration of solids, the chemical activity and morphology of the particulate, and the degree of confinement provided by the vessel. On the practical side, industrial conditions are seldom sufficiently well-controlled or characterized to justify application of existing theoretical models. For all the above reasons, this chapter can provide only a very abbreviated coverage of ignition basics. The reader is referred to other sources for in-depth treatment of dust and powder explosions (Bodurtha, 1980 Bartknecht, 1981 Bartknecht, 1987). 

Sparks resulting from static charge and discharge continue to cause major fires and explosions within the chemical industry. The examples and fundamentals developed in these sections were designed to emphasize the importance of this subject. Hopefully this emphasis on the fundamentals will make the subject less elusive and destructive. 

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