All:
I have written to the journal’s EIC and pointed out the safety hazard. I asked why the published manuscript did not address safety and requested the EIC to review and respond.
I will post the response, if any, whenever received.
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Stay healthy and prosper
NEAL LANGERMAN, Ph.D.
ADVANCED CHEMICAL SAFETY, Inc. (Retired)
5340 Caminito Cachorro
SAN DIEGO CA 92105
+1 (619) 990-4908
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU> On Behalf Of Eugene Ngai
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2022 11:08 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] H2-O2 mixtures for COVID?
Interesting. I have written an article on the history of explosive gas mixtures like this that is about 80% finished. It has incident history for over 30 incidents with mixtures like this made by accident, deliberately or system failure. The most dangerous point when handling these mixtures is when the cylinder valve is opened. This can create adiabatic compression heat that will ignite the mixture and backflash into the cylinder. I investigated the Dec 2018 incident in India where they were using a 66%H2/O2 mixture to fill a shock tube chamber. It had 1800 psig when it exploded. Cut the operator in half and threw the top of his body 20 ft away and ripped the bottom half into pieces. Found his wrist watch on the roof about 40 high.
I have an article “Dangerous Gas Mixtures” that speaks about these in some detail. You can download it from my website under files. There was a guy that was selling mixtures like this for fuel cell research. He had 3 explosions that he blamed it on defective cylinders and continued. He finally had a 4th explosion that crippled his son and they closed him down. You can read about it in the article. It has been proven that explosive gas mixtures like this can be physically handled and transported long distances without ignition.
Since they are mixing it at atmospheric pressure adiabatic compression is not a source of ignition. If they humidify it, static will not be a source of ignition. The potential for ignition is pretty remote.
Similar to this, acetylene is an excellent anesthetic. Time Magazine March 31,1923 reported 500 operations using 40 % Acetylene & 60 % Oxygen scented with pine oil. They must have had problems since it was discontinued in 1925. I would love to get my hands on that article.
Did you know
Eugene Ngai
Chemically Speaking LLC
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU> On Behalf Of Tim Kucharski
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2022 12:18 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] H2-O2 mixtures for COVID?
Hi all,
A colleague of mine came across the following study when searching for some H2/O2 safety data. We’re rather shocked that someone is administering a 2:1 mix of hydrogen and oxygen to patients via nasal cannula. Having zero background in medicine, I have no idea whether breathing explosive mixtures is a common practice, but the chemist in me says this is an explosion (inside the respiratory tract!) waiting to happen. Any thoughts? Is this as insane as I think it is?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7330772/
Timothy J. Kucharski, PhD
Senior Engineer
Electric Hydrogen
Move Fast and Break Bonds
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