How dangerous is ammonium nitrate?

Ammonium nitrate has been infamously associated with some incidents that have taken place over the past decades.

On August 4^th, 2020, the city of Beirut was stricken by one of the most devastating scenes caught on video, a detonation of a large deposit of ammonium nitrate in the port, which caused immense damage to the city.

Sadly, this was not an isolated incident.

In August 2015, a similar incident took place in Tianjin China, where tragically 173 people lost their lives and hundreds more were injured. The explosion had an impact on more than 5000 families that were living within a couple of miles of the epicentre.

Before that, West, Texas was the place of another tragic incident that occurred in April 2013. Unfortunately, 15 people lost their lives during the event, several of them were firemen who were working during the moment of the actual detonation.

Due to the disastrous consequences that these incidents produce, there are several countries that are now banning the product as it can also be used as an explosive additive.

But what is exactly ammonium nitrate and why it can have a dangerous effect?

What is ammonium nitrate?

Ammonium nitrate can be found naturally as a mineral and it can also form when ammonia gas reacts to nitric acid by a process called nitrification. It is commonly used worldwide as fertilizers and often is stored in bulk quantities. It is a white crystalline compound or granular solid at normal temperatures.

This chemical is also the main component for a widely used bulk industrial explosive, known as ANFO.

Fertilizer-grade ammonium nitrate is highly stable and non-combustible under most conditions. However, when heated into a molten state it becomes less stable and can potentially lead to dangerous runaway conditions and detonation reactions.

How can ammonium nitrate explode? 

Find out more in the second part of our ammonium nitrate blog.