Ammonium Nitrate Disasters - Oppau, Germany, 1921

Oppau, Germany, 1921

• Another attempt at disaggregation of a fertilizer mix with industrial explosives caused the death of 450 people and the destruction of 700 houses on September 21, 1921. The fertilizer was a 50:50 mixture of ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulfate and the factory had used this method of disaggregation over 20,000 times without incident. It is thought that, on this occasion, poor mixing had led to certain parts of the mass to contain more ammonium nitrate than others. Only 450 tonnes exploded, out of 4500 tonnes of fertilizer stored in the warehouse.