Richmond, CA nitrous oxide accident

Following up on the previous posting about the Pratt & Whitney N2O incident in 1973, I've been told about an explosion and fire in Richmond, California in 1981 when a Puritan Bennett tanker carrying N20 took out a dock. An engineering friend has been looking for a report on the incident but no one in Richmond seems to have any data on it. Surprisingly, the local police say they have destroyed all such records older than ten years. If anyone has any info about the incident, please pass it along. It would be helpful to the rocketry community to have data on this and any other such events.

Posted 12/11/07 | 12:52:54 by TopSpacer | Filed under: Propulsion

Comments

Actually this is an interesting case that occured in a lab in Japn in 1992. Two killed and five others were injured in the explosion.

http://shippai.jst.go.jp/en...&

On October 2nd, 1991. During an experiment using mono-silane gas in the laboratory of a university, the mono-silane cylinder exploded and ruptured, killing two and injuring five. Nitrous oxide was contaminated in the mono-silane cylinder through a purge line, and a combustible gas-air mixture was generated, which exploded. It was an important point that the type of check valve installed in the purge line could not function with nitrous oxide.

Posted by Researcher at 12/11/07 21:58:40

And here are some impressive pictures of what happens when a 15 lb nitro bottle in a racing car blows.

http://www.saturnspeed.com/...

Posted by Researcher at 12/11/07 22:09:38

Ok, if you mix silane with N2O you got an explosive mix, as you mix GOX/(H2 or any Hdyrocarbon). I wouldn't count that as a N2O incident.
Lately I gave a short overview about N2O-safety in rocketry (sloppy translation though, the original was given in German):
http://www.spl.ch/publicati...

If someone finds a bug, please feedback... thanks
Bruno

Posted by Bruno Berger at 12/12/07 08:33:05

Bruno: Excellent charts, and your English is better than many Americans I know. :) I have just one comment, but for ITAR and US liability reasons can't get too specific. That is, materials compatibility needs to be tested in addition to taking seal vendors advice on compatibility. Long term swelling and flammability can also eliminate a candidate elastomer.

Posted by Dan DeLong at 12/12/07 11:41:30

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