A powerful oxidizer and highly corrosive substance perchloric acid is a clear liquid with no odor. Mainly
English: Appr. 40 ml of 60% perchloric acid. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
produced as a precursor to ammonium perchlorate, used as rocket fuel. There are various other uses including in electropolishing.
When below 50% acid by mass perchloric acid has more corrosive property than its oxidizing nature, 50 to 72% acid by mass the danger of its oxidizing property is much greater than its corrosiveness.
At or above 73% acid by mass perchloric acid becomes very strong oxidizer that salts formed from oxidation may explode even by friction or shock.
One of the worst accident involving Perchloric acid is an explosion at O’Connor Electro-Plating Company in Los Angeles, California on February 20 1947. This accident resulted in 17 deaths, 100 buildings damaged, and a 22 foot deep crater formed in the ground.
IMDG Code lists Perchloric Acid as below
UN 1802 Class 8 (5.1) PERCHLORIC ACID with not more than 50% acid, by mass
UN 1873 Class 5.1 (8) PERCHLORIC ACID with more than 50% but not more than 72% acid, by mass
PERCHLORIC ACID, with more than 72% acid by mass is prohibited for transport by ships.
There are at least 1000 acid attacks taking place a year in India and many more in the world!
Who are carrying out these attacks? Those who are heartless, wicked, cruel and are at the bottom of the pit of cowardice carry out these attacks.
Acids, including strong acids, are available to purchase in India without much restrictions or verification of end user. This makes it an easier weapon in the hands of failed lovers, disgruntled colleagues or family members to use in their cowardly act to mutilate the victims with irreversible damage or even cause death.
Acid is a powerful weapon in the hands of these heartless people as well pose a big safety issue during transport and storage.
During transport or storage if acids leaks from its containment it may result in reacting with other cargo and/or packages causing an incident or accident leading to loss of property or lives.
Transport regulations classify acids under class 8, corrosive substances. Many of those chemicals which violently reacts with acids have been given compatibility conditions of away and separated from acids in these regulations. For example if we have a commodity belonging to alkali or cyanide, transport regulations states this must be separated from acids, which subsequently prohibits loading of both the substances in the same shipping container or distance between them is regulated when loaded on ships un containerized.
However in transport regulations none of the entries belonging to acids have any segregation rule stating it must be segregated from cyanides, alkalis or oxidizing substances, baring few acids which has a rule stating must be segregated from strong acids.
While handling for transport or storage each acid must be checked in the individual schedule in relevant regulation for its own properties together with any other cargoes’ compatibility with this acid for safety.
Maersk Line’s Tripple-E class vessels was recognized as an innovative solution to drive sustainable development by Sustainia100, 100 solutions identified includes solar power in Sudan, sustainable fashion in Switzerland; water-cooling in Canada, solar-cooling in Singapore, buses in Brazil, smart buildings in Sydney.
Quote from Sustania
Commercial shipping is a large contributor of air pollution accounting for 3-4% of man-made CO2 emissions worldwide. Larger ships, optimised for lower speeds and able to carry more cargo, can slash fuel.
THE SOLUTION
!In 2011, Maersk Line secured an order to build 20 container ships bigger than anything currently at sea. The company’s solution, the Triple-E (the “E” is for economy of scale, energy efficiency, and environmentally improved), established a new class of container ship. The capacity of each ship is to be 16% greater than the largest ship built thus far.
The ships are to be outfitted with currently available energy- saving and pollution-control technologies. For instance, the ships’ hulls are optimised for lower speeds. An energy-efficient engine will be supplemented by a waste-heat recovery system that contributes to the ship’s propulsion. The Triple E class will also be equipped with an energy efficient ballast water treatment system, and made ready for eventual installation of a SOx scrubber. A “Cradle to Cradle Passport” ensures that when a Triple E ship reaches retirement its components can be safely disassembled and recycled.
June 08th is observed as World Oceans Day. 2011 & 2012 theme is Youth: the Next Wave for Change.
On this occasion let us look at Annex III of International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973/78.
Annex III of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as modified by the Protocol of 1978 relating thereto (MARPOL 73/78), deals with the prevention of pollution by harmful substances carried by sea in packaged form.
Annex III of MARPOL has 8 regulations, below are the explanation of each.
For full details refer MARPOL or part 1.1.2.2. of IMDG Code 35-10
1. Application
This regulation identifies harmful substances as those identified as marine pollutant by IMDG Code or any substance which meets the criteria laid down in appendix to annex III.
Packaged form means the forms of containment specified for harmful substances in the IMDG Code.
It further states carriage of substances is prohibited except in accordance with the provisions of this annex. And ask to treat the empty packages used for carriage of harmful substances themselves as harmful substances unless adequate precautions have been taken to ensure that they contain no residue that is harmful to the marine environment. Further states that the provisions of this annex do not apply to ship’s stores.
2. Packing
Regulation 2 requires the packages to be adequate to minimize the hazard to the marine environment.
3. Marking and labelling
Regulation 3 requires the packages to be marked with correct technical names and marked or labelled to identify the substance is a marine pollutant. Trade names alone shall not be used. The regulation requires the durability of marking to be such that it survives minimum three months immersion in sea.
4. Documentation
Documentation of harmful substances shall contain correct technical names and the words “MARINE POLLUTANT”. Each ship carrying harmful substances shall carry a special list of manifest identifying the goods and its stowage locations thereof. This list must be revised at any port where loading and or discharging of harmful substances takes place.
5. Stowage
Harmful substances are to be stowed on board vessels in such a way to minimize the hazard to the marine environment without jeopardizing safety of the persons on board or ship.
6. Quantity limitations
Certain harmful substances may need to be prohibited for carriage or limited by quantity which may be carried aboard any one ship. In limiting the quantity consideration shall be given to size, construction and equipment of the ship, as well as the packaging and the inherent nature of the substances.
7. Exceptions
Jettisoning of harmful substances are prohibited except when it is needed to secure the safety of life on board vessels or for securing the safety of the vessel.
IMDG Code Compliance Centre 