Beirut Explosion Caused by Ammonium Nitrate - Lebanese President Michel Aoun

• Written by Chief Editor Wed, 12 Aug 20 PM

At the port of the city of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, on the afternoon of 4 August 2020. There was extremely powerful explosion killed at least 220 deaths, 7,000 injuries, US$10–15 billion in property damage, and left an estimated 300,000 people homeless, followed by the Lebanese government resignation.

Immediately, the cause of that explosion was undetermined but now the Lebanese President Michel Aoun linked the explosion to about 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored in the port without proper safety measures for six years.

Frankly, Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound, the nitrate salt of the ammonium cation. It has the chemical formula NH₄NO₃, simplified to N₂H₄O₃. It is a white crystal solid and is highly soluble in water. It is predominantly used in agriculture as a high-nitrogen fertilizer. Its other major use is as a component of explosive mixtures used in mining, quarrying, and civil construction. It is the major constituent of ANFO, a popular industrial explosive which accounts for 80% of explosives used in North America; similar formulations have been used in improvised explosive devices.