Evening star., 1947-04-17
Du ponf Experts Give
Possible Reason for
Texas City Explosions
BY the As,oeiatsd Press

= ATLANTIC CITY, NJ j., April IT,
Contamination with organic materi-
ais can make a sensitive explosive
out of ammonium nitrate, according
to chemical experts. commenting on
the Texas City explosives.
Moreover, said Du Pont explosives
experts attending the American
. Chemical Society convention today,
even pure ammonium nitrate might
S%detonate if exposed to great heat or
4evere shock.
- Thus, II only part of ships
AEargo of ammonium nitrate became
3 contaminated and exploded, from
heat or some other cause, the blast
q could set off the rest Of the load, the
said.
- While explosions of ammonium
nitrate are rare, 1t caused one of
1.-THE worlds great disasters in 1921
when the German city OF Oppau
.was destroyed by an explosion at
the Badische Anilin plant, killing
"a 900 to $500 persons.
Plays Large Part in Explosion.
! In its pure form, ammonium nj
] trate is white powder composed of
oxygen and hydrogen, the gases that
! form water, and nitrogen, which
/ makes up more than three-Quarters
] of the air we breathe.
A true sword and-plowshare prod
uct, ammonium nitrate makes up
: large part of the bulk of both fer
tilizers and explosives, being some
times as much as 95 per cent of
: the latter. Government explosive
plants and others produced it dur
ing wartime, and because Of the
world food shortage some have con-
tinued heavy production for agri-
! culture.
| Although it is mixed with other
materials that make it nonexplosive
before it goes on the field, am
/, monium nitrate usually is shipped
pure, to save space, and in its man
ufacture great care Is taken to make
1t pure so that it will not be ex-
plosive, the experts said.
Waterproofing May Be Cause.
Specializing on a possible source of
contamination, the Du Pont men
said that waterproofing in shipping
bags might contain unsuspected
chemicals that would upset the sta
bility of the white powder. Heat
might speed this contamination,
they said, producing a mixture
which would explode. This, in turn,
might detonate the uncoptaminated
ammonium nitrate.
Some ammonium nitrate prepared
for wartime use is being reconverted
to fertilizer material, in processes
that require careful control.
Much of the chemical is produced
by electrical action that fixes"
nitrogen from the atmosphere.
While most plants use nitrogen from
the soil, some, like beans and peas
and other legumes, add to soil rich
ness by fixing" nitrogen themselves,
with root nodules.
DR.. Charles Alan Thomas of st.
Louis, president-elect of the society
and vice president of the Monsanto
Chemical Co., said ammonium nj
trate ordinarily is insensitive but i
when 1t goes off 1t has the explosive
power of INT"
Dr. Thomas said that styrene, the
product of his company's plant at |
Texas City, which was destroyed by
fire, was not explosive but would |
burn as rapidly as gasoline. 1t is
q liquid used in making rubber and |
plastics. Benzene, one of the ingre-
dients, also Is inf1ammable.
'The only way I can explain how
the plant was set afire would be to
assume piece of flying steel went |
into tank of benzol," DR.. Thomas
said.
Fumes from styrene would not be
fatal Like burning benzol, the
styrene would give off a lot of
smoke. can't say about COM
bination of fumes from all the
chemicals"
Monsanto's waterfront plant was
taken over from the Defense Plant
Corp. four months ago.