Self-Acting Formation of an ANFO Similar Type of Explosive under Fire Conditions: A Case Study

Paweł Wolny, Norbert Tuśnio, Artur Lewandowski, Filip Mikołajczyk and Sławomir Kuberski
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Paweł Wolny: Faculty of Process and Environmental Engineering, Łódź University of Technology, 90-924 Łódź, Poland
Norbert Tuśnio: Faculty of Safety Engineering and Civil Protection, The Main School of Fire Service, 01-629 Warsaw, Poland
Artur Lewandowski: Faculty of Process and Environmental Engineering, Łódź University of Technology, 90-924 Łódź, Poland
Filip Mikołajczyk: Faculty of Process and Environmental Engineering, Łódź University of Technology, 90-924 Łódź, Poland
Sławomir Kuberski: Faculty of Process and Environmental Engineering, Łódź University of Technology, 90-924 Łódź, Poland

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 21, 1-10

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.

Keywords: self-acting formation of explosives; ANFO; ammonium nitrate (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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