Anhydrous ammonia’s ‘flash point’ (producing flammable/explosive vapors) is well below room temperature at STP? It boils at -28F. That’s why it is so commonly used for refrigeration.
It does have a specific LEL and UEL that makes it less dangerous than gasoline. It also has a much higher auto ignition temp.
Yeah, anhydrous ammonia is less dangerous than gasoline (1 instead of 4) on the fire diamond due to it being less easy to ignite.
But flash point doesn’t help you here?
electrical sparks or open flame can still definitely do it. And have, multiple times.
Some pretty amazing clips in industrial accident videos from it, actually. My favorite part is when the chunk of roof almost makes it to the highway.
Flash point and boiling points are different. The flashpoint of ammonia is 270F. Below this temperature at 1 atm, ammonia will not catch fire no matter what.
That video took place in an engine room, so any combination of heat, flame, or spark is possible.
“Flash point is the temperature a liquid (usually a petroleum product) will form a vapour in the air near its surface that will “flash,” or briefly ignite, on exposure to an open flame”
If ammonia is boiling (and producing a fog) of concentrated vapor which then burns/explodes in exposure to an open flame, which it will definitely do at even OF, that is an entirely academic point no?
