You’ve probably already read about the the massive blast that hit Iran’s Shahid Rajaee port near Bandar Abbas.
A massive explosion at Iran’s largest commercial port killed several people and destroyed shiploads of ballistic missile fuel from China, news reports suggest. “A huge blast probably caused by the explosion of chemical materials killed at least 18 people and injured more than 700 on Saturday at Iran’s biggest port, Bandar Abbas,” Reuters reported, citing Iranian regime-run media.
The exploding rocket fuel sent out a huge plume, unleashing a shock wave spanning several miles. “Iran’s official news channels aired footage of a vast black and orange cloud of smoke billowing up above the port in the aftermath of the blast,” the news agency added. “The blast shattered windows within a radius of several kilometres and was heard in Qeshm, an island 26 kilometres (16 miles) south of the port, Iranian media said.”
The shipment was reportedly carrying sodium perchlorate, which is indeed pretty spicy stuff if handled improperly.
Now we have footage of the blast and, holy crap, was it massive and devastating:
At 36 seconds in, you get footage of the start of the fire. It doesn’t look like an explosive or a drone strike, just a fire that got out of control, so I doubt the U.S. or Israel was behind this one. Neither China nor Iran is known for their painstaking attention to detail.
On top of the rogering Iran’s missile program has already received from Israel, the explosion will make it that much more difficult for Iran to reconstitute their missile program anytime soon.
Wikipedia, the source of all vaguely accurate knowledge, tells us “Shahid Rajaee Port is responsible for 85% of the total loading and unloading carried out at the Iranian ports. By 2011, Shahid Rajaee port ranked 44th among the 3500 major ports of the world.” With Iran’s inflation rate already creeping toward 40%, damage to their main container port is going to weaken their economy further, giving President Trump additional leverage in talks over their nuclear program.
Tags: Bandar Abbas, China, explosion, Iran, Jihad, Military, Shahid Rajaee, video
Pure sodium perchlorate is a white crystalline solid, but usually shipped dissolved in water as a monohydrate. It is a powerful oxidizer, but by itself noncombustible. It accelerates the burning of combustible materials producing toxic fumes, which is probably what occurred in this incident.
Sodium perchlorate requires a detonator, which suggests that it was ammonium perchlorate that caused the explosion. Absent consultation with a chemical engineer, it is useless to speculate further.
Indisputably, relying on proven fakes like Comrade Cartridge, who seems to rely on cut and paste “research” gleaned from Wikipedia to accomplish this task is an exercise in futility.
That reddish smoke seems more like ammonium nitrate. Ammonium perchlorate is usually the oxidizer used in solid rocket motors, not sodium perchlorate.
[…] FINALLY, AN EARTH-SHATTERING KABOOM: Iran Port Blast Was Massive. […]
It is far more common around the world than many want to believe. They don’t have workplace safety.
I really would love to see any satellite imagery of that area at that moment.
It also looks like whatever it was had been unloaded and stacked somewhere. I don’t see water anywhere immediately by what seems to be the start of the fire. (Original statements at least implied it might have been a ship that went kablooie.)
I love the one forklift driver in the video who stops as he sees the big orange fire… waits a few moments… then drives on. I was wondering if he was thinking “OK, I go drop this off, then I’m calling in sick for the rest of the day.”
The Wikipedia entry for this event claims it was ammonium perchlorate but well…Wikipedia. Iran locked down the blast sight and buried the evidence so without a thorough examination of the blast signature, it’s kind of hard to be dogmatic
Admittedly, ammonium nitrate is one possible explanation. The Beirut Blast demonstrates what severe damage can occur under conditions of lax storage.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Shahid_Rajaee_explosion
Sodium perchlorate is an intermediate in the manufacture of ammonium perchlorate. Add ammonia to it and the less soluble ammonium salt precipitates out of solution.
I wonder what sort of shipping container was used to package the SP solurtion. If is was packed in Intermediate Bulk Containers (totes) and stacked 2 high in conex containers, in the case of a fire, the totes would melt, spilling the potent oxidizer all over the ground.
If you want to see an ammonium perchlorate mishap, Google Henderson, Nevada + 1988. I remember when that was in the news.
Wonder who did the drone footage and how that got out of Iran.
It was probably filmed by Iranian media or government officials. I don’t get the impression that the Iranian authorities have been trying to cover up the explosion itself.
Texas City 1946. Fertilizer grade ammonium nitrate.
Ammonium perchlorate, most likely… see the orange smoke in the video, which would not have been emitted if it was sodium perchlorate.
“Sodium perchlorate requires a detonator, which suggests that it was ammonium perchlorate that caused the explosion. Absent consultation with a chemical engineer, it is useless to speculate further.
Indisputably, relying on proven fakes like Comrade Cartridge, who seems to rely on cut and paste “research” gleaned from Wikipedia to accomplish this task is an exercise in futility.”
As usual, you are absolutely, categorically wrong.
None of the perchlorates can be detonated, regardless of what kind of igniter or cap you use. Perchlorates are solid, aggressive sources of oxygen atoms, nothing more or less. Combined with a fuel, they can burn fiercely, a process called deflagration. But they do not detonate under any circumstances. And they do not burn without a fuel, which creates a typical redox reaction.
Deflagration differs from detonation in that no shock wave is produced. Detonation produces an axial shock wave with a speed which we use to categorize high explosives, called detonation velocity. Detonation is an explosive chemical process which proceeds to completion without any confinement of the detonating material. This is how we define high explosives.
You can get a bang by confining deflagrating materials (think gun breeches and pipe bombs), but the bang is no more than an energy release from combustion gasses as the confinement vessel ruptures. Then the deflagrating material continues to burn merrily, but does not explode.
The Chinese shipped sodium perchlorate because it is water soluble and can be shipped wet, which renders it somewhat safer than the other perchlorates if a storage tank ruptures. Solid rocket fuels and tank gun propellants typically use other cation perchlorates – ammonium or potassium – which have only the most limited water solubility. Shipping perchlorates neat is an extraordinary fire risk and an invitation to disaster. It is a relatively easy process to exchange cations to get the perchlorate you want from sodium perchlorate feedstock. And the desired perchlorate precipitates out and can be removed by filtration.
[…] Iran Port Blast Was Massive […]
“As usual, you are absolutely, categorically wrong.”
I am not taking a position, other than to claim sodium perchlorate is unlikely to be the accelerant. It is just wouldn’t be you if you weren’t relying on a straw man argument to make your point.
“Shipping perchlorates neat is an extraordinary fire risk and an invitation to disaster.”
Oh, like what happened at Shahid Rajneesh, then? You are becoming remarkable adept at self-refutation. Keep blabbering, Comrade.
“I am not taking a position, other than to claim sodium perchlorate is unlikely to be the accelerant. It is just wouldn’t be you if you weren’t relying on a straw man argument to make your point.
“Shipping perchlorates neat is an extraordinary fire risk and an invitation to disaster.”
Oh, like what happened at Shahid Rajneesh, then? You are becoming remarkable adept at self-refutation. Keep blabbering, Comrade.”
You specifically stated: “Sodium perchlorate requires a detonator..”
Sodium perchlorate cannot be detonated.
Even wet, sodium perchlorate is an extremely dangerous oxidizer. Dry, it is a DoT “Do Not Ship” item.
The typical sodium perchlorate disaster occurs due to undiscovered tank leakage, followed by evaporation of the dissolution water. The sodium perchlorate residuum then ignites whatever it is in contact with, which can be wood, oil, plastic, paint, paper, cardboard, or any other flammable material.
You would have figured this out on your own if you had a measurable IQ.
China shipped 1,000 tons of sodium perchlorate to Iran in January on two Iranian flagged vessels, the Golbon and the Jairan. It was packaged in 20 foot, 20,000 liter ISO standard chemical containers. You occasionally see these mounted on rail cars or truck trailers.
The Chinese probably used one or more conventional austenitic stainless steel chemical tank containers, the most abundant type. They are susceptible to SCC from the chloride in sodium perchlorate. U.S. sodium chlorate shipping and storage practice is restricted to tankage made from duplex stainless steels, typically AISI Type 2205. High chromium Type 2205 stainless is highly resistant to SCC.
An SCC crack in the tankage would be the most likely explanation of sodium perchlorate leakage at Bandar Abbas. It doesn’t take much leakage and heat of solution from rewetting by fugitive sodium perchlorate (from intermittent, pulsing leakage) is a common ignition source.