Abstract
On 2 October 2003 in Saint-Romain-en-Jarez (France) a fire in a farm building triggered an explosion in which 26 people were injured. Police investigation, based solely on an analysis of the effects and on general engineering knowledge, showed that the explosion was caused by an uncontrollably generated mixture of ammonium nitrate (AN) and molten plastic crates which formed an explosive mixture similar to ammonium nitrate fuel oil (ANFO). This is the only commonly known example of an ammonium nitrate blast taking place at its end user destination. Is such an explanation of the incident plausible and could a similar blast possibly happen anywhere else? The experimental results support this thesis of French investigators but raise further doubts. Laboratory reconstruction of the self-acting process of generating the explosive material confirmed the investigators’ report. However, other materials at the incident site could have influenced the final outcome too. The lab-recreated explosion of a mixture of AN and molten plastic partially confirmed the report’s thesis.
Highlights
Due to the widespread use of ammonium nitrate(V) (AN) as the basic ingredient of fertilizers, there were tests carried out in order to complete a list of substances that may generate explosives in contact with AN under fire conditions
Ammonium nitrate (AN) is a polymorphic substance, which means that in specific temperature ranges it occurs in a specific crystalline form [21]
The conducted research showed that the two most popular plastics in combination with ammonium nitrate(V) (AN) or artificial fertilizers based on this substance, under fire conditions, pose a real threat of a significant increase in the fire dynamics or even an explosion
Summary
Due to the widespread use of ammonium nitrate(V) (AN) as the basic ingredient of fertilizers, there were tests carried out in order to complete a list of substances that may generate explosives in contact with AN under fire conditions. The event in question differs from the ones most frequently described both in scientific literature and in trade journals, as the explosion did not take place within a plant or where large amounts of AN are normally stored, but at the end user’s—in this case a French farmer. Such an accident could have happened anywhere else. The explosion took place at 17:12, as a result of which 26 people were injured, most of them firefighters. An investigation led by the police experts found that the explosive, which detonated as a result of high temperature of the fire environment, was a mixture of AN with molten polyethylene (PE)
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