“Four people were killed and as many as 17 others injured as a blast ripped apart and brought down the roof of a cold storage on Friday.”
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Speaking to Christo van der Merwe of MRE, he confirmed that ammonia is explosive at concentrations of between 18 and 26%. However a high temperature flame surge of ±600°C is required to ignite the gas mixture. This could be supplied by welders, grinders or even boilers.
Although its window of ‘danger’ is very small, and Christo estimates that there have been less than 4 ammonia explosions in SA since it was introduced as a refrigerant over 100 years ago, some insurers have picked up on this possible risk.
That’s just another reason why companies need to comply with SANS 10147. Christo is now also seeing requirements that electrical power be automatically cut off when the ammonia release is measured at 100 parts per million even though it only becomes explosive at about 26,000 PPM.
For more information, please contact
Christo van der Merwe directly at : 073 308 9150
Email: christo@mre.co.za
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