Tag Archives: chlorine

World

Chlorine gas leak kills 12, injures 251 at Jordan port

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June 27 (Reuters) – At least 12 people died and 251 were injured in a chlorine gas leak from a storage tank at Jordan’s Aqaba port, officials and state media reported on Monday.

The leak came after a tank filled with 25 tonnes of chlorine gas being exported to Djibouti fell while being transported, officials said.

A video posted on state television’s Twitter page showed a storage tank falling from a winch and slamming into the deck of a ship, followed by yellow-coloured gas rising into the air as people ran away.

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Health ministry officials said they expected only a handful of people to remain hospitalised by Tuesday.

People stand outside a hospital after toxic gas leak from a storage tank in Jordan’s Aqaba port, Jordan June 27, 2022. REUTERS/Abraham Farajian

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Chlorine is a widely used disinfectant and water purification agent, but if inhaled, the gas turns to hydrochloric acid, which can lead to internal burning and drowning through a reactionary release of water in the lungs.

Jordan’s Aqaba grain silos halted work to allow inspection of its grains and for any signs of contamination, but maritime traffic at Aqaba ports continues, officials said.

There were no vessels unloading any grains cargo at the time of the incident, they added.

Aqaba port at the north end of the Red Sea has long been a major transit route for Iraqi imports and exports.

Prime Minister Bisher al-Khasawneh arrived at Aqaba and headed to a hospital where some of the injured were being treated, state TV reported.

Al-Khasawneh also formed an investigation team into the incident chaired by the interior minister, state TV cited the information minister as saying.

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Reporting by Moataz Mohamed, Omar Fahmy, Nayera Abdallah and Suleiman al-Khalidi; Editing by Deepa Babington, Mark Porter and Lisa Shumaker

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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US

Passaic fire: Firefighters keep massive fire from reaching chlorine at chemical plant in New Jersey

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PASSAIC, New Jersey (WABC) — Firefighters were able to keep the flames from a massive fire at an industrial complex in Passaic, New Jersey away from the main chemical plant.

The 11-alarm fire broke out around 8:15 p.m. Friday at the Majestic Industries warehouse on Passaic Street.

Saturday morning, after working through the night in freezing temperatures, fire crews were still working to douse the flames.

As of 7 a.m., the fire was not completely under control, but was contained, Mayor Hector Lora said.

The fire started in the Majestic industries warehouse, where the company manufactures gaming and hospitality furniture for casinos and bingo halls and spread to an adjoining building used by Qualco Inc. to produce chlorine pellets used to treat pools and spas.

No one was in the complex when the fire started except for the security guard who called authorities.

“So I immediately run to the office, get authorities on the phone, the fire department and try to do the best I can try to save the building. But you know, it’s dangerous,” security guard Justin Johnson said.

Johnson said he thinks the fire began in the stackhouse area near the roof.

“I open the gate, I see fire from the roof and by the stackhouse area,” he said. “It was a blessing I got out of there. I treat that building like it’s my own. I work there, it grows onto you. It hurts a little bit.”

Together the two buildings spread over more than 200,000 square feet and Lora said the fire had the potential to be the worst the city had ever seen.

Officials were concerned about possible air quality issues, however, firefighters’ quick work kept the flames from reaching the area where more than 100,000 pounds of chlorine pellets are stored.

There was further concern about possible evacuations from a nearby residential area, but that was also avoided.

Gov. Phil Murphy made resources from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection agency available to assess the air quality.

“They made an assessment in terms of the air quality, as you can see behind us they continue battling this fire. But as a direct result of the remarkable response of firefighters and emergency responders they were able to contain the fire and it did not reach the main chemical plant,” Lora said in a video posted on Facebook.

The air quality has been deemed safe and no mandatory evacuations were ordered.

Over a dozen firefighters were injured in trips and falls, including sprained ankles, bumps, and bruises, as the millions of gallons of water used to put out the flames froze almost immediately amid below freezing temperatures.

One firefighter was hit in the face by debris and taken to the hospital, but has since been released.

It’s still too early to tell what causes the fire.

Officials say an investigation will begin once authorities are able to get inside the building.

ALSO READ | Task force unveils policy recommendations in wake of Bronx fire that killed 17

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Health

Why Does Salt Have an Expiration Date?

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Photo: Claire Lower

Salt is an incredibly common ingredient that most of us take for granted. It’s a simple, inorganic (meaning “not carbon based”) molecule comprised of two tiny ions, sodium and chloride, but its ability to flavor and preserve is what makes it valuable—so valuable that it made its way into the word “salary.”

Salt preserves food by drawing out moisture, suppressing the growth of harmful bacteria, and encouraging the growth of helpful bacteria—so why do canisters of the stuff come with expiration dates?

The culprit is not sodium chloride, but the additives some manufacturers mix in with it to prevent clumping, or add nutrients. Iodine, anti-clumping agents, and trace minerals in pink, red, or black salts can degrade with time, but degradation doesn’t guarantee harm. The additives may not do their job as well—your salt may start to clump and you won’t be able to count on it as a reliable source of iodine—but less-effective iodine won’t harm you, and you still shouldn’t see any mold in your salt shaker.

This does not, however, mean you should neglect your salt—even additive-free salt—or store it any old way. Salt’s hygroscopic (water-absorbing) properties make it a poor candidate for being left out in the open. Not only can it absorb moisture from the air, but smells from your kitchen, which can leave you with clumpy, stinky salt.

Keep your salt in an air-tight container, and store it in a dark, cool place. If, like me, you keep salt in a salt pig or other container by the stove, resist the urge to keep it full at all times, and keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t get contaminated with bits of food, splashes of water or oil, or other kitchen ephemera.

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And, as with anything in your kitchen, toss your salt if you see any bugs or mold. Though neither will thrive in pure salt, kitchens are messy places, and even the purest sodium chloride is no match for old, rotting food, or outright spills.

   

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Science

A Previously Unseen Chemical Reaction Has Been Detected on Mars

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The giant Martian sandstorm of 2018 wasn’t just a wild ride – it also gave us a previously undetected gas in the planet’s atmosphere. For the first time, the ExoMars orbiter sampled traces of hydrogen chloride, composed of a hydrogen and a chlorine atom.

 

This gas presents Mars scientists with a new mystery to solve: how it got there.

“We’ve discovered hydrogen chloride for the first time on Mars,” said physicist Kevin Olsen of the University of Oxford in the UK.

“This is the first detection of a halogen gas in the atmosphere of Mars, and represents a new chemical cycle to understand.”

Scientists have been keeping an eye out for gases that contain chlorine in the atmosphere of Mars, since they could confirm that the planet is volcanically active. However, if hydrogen chloride was produced by volcanic activity, it should only spike very regionally, and be accompanied by other volcanic gases.

The hydrogen chloride detected by ExoMars did not, and was not. It was sniffed out in both the northern and southern hemispheres of Mars during the dust storm, and the absence of other volcanic gases was glaring. 

This suggests that the gas was being produced by some other process; luckily, we have similar processes here on Earth that can help us understand what it could be.

It’s a several-step process that requires a few key ingredients. First, you need sodium chloride (that’s regular salt), left over from evaporative processes. There’s plenty of that on Mars, thought to be the remnants of ancient salt lakes. When a dust storm stirs up the surface, the sodium chloride gets kicked up into the atmosphere.

Then there’s the Martian polar ice caps which, when warmed during the summer, sublimate. When the resulting water vapour mingles with the salt, the resulting reaction releases chlorine, which then reacts further to form hydrogen chloride.

Graphic showing the potentially new chemistry cycle detected on Mars. (ESA)

“You need water vapour to free chlorine and you need the by-products of water – hydrogen ­- to form hydrogen chloride. Water is critical in this chemistry,” Olsen said.

“We also observe a correlation to dust: we see more hydrogen chloride when dust activity ramps up, a process linked to the seasonal heating of the southern hemisphere.”

 

This model is supported by a detection of hydrogen chloride during the following 2019 dusty season, which the team is still analysing.

However, confirmation is still pending. Future and ongoing observations will help put together a more comprehensive picture of the process’s cycles.

Meanwhile, laboratory experiments, modelling and simulations will help scientists rule out or confirm potential mechanisms behind the release of hydrogen chloride in the Martian atmosphere.

The research has been published in Science Advances.

 

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