Extraction and Post-Explosion Trace Analysis of Explosions | ||
| The International Conference on Chemical and Environmental Engineering | ||
| Volume 13, Issue 13, October 2025, Pages 1-7 PDF (1.13 M) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.1088/1757-899X/975/1//iccee.2025.460359 | ||
| Authors | ||
| Mahmoud M. ElMorsy1; Hosam E. Mostafa2; Mahmoud Abdelhafiz2 | ||
| 1G4S Company for Security Solutions, Cairo, Egypt. | ||
| 2Department of Chemical Engineering, Military Technical College (MTC), Cairo, Egypt. | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Recently, the Beirut port catastrophic explosion left behind a tremendous number of deaths and injuries. This accident highlighted the critical impact of the accidental explosion. Post-explosion investigations revealed the key role of the probable swap sampling and extraction of residues, either organic or inorganic, collected from the crime scene in achieving a fast, accurate and reliable forensic analysis. On the other hand, unqualified strategies which focused only on the analysis of organic explosives could misguide the whole forensic investigations. Therefore, more detailed forensic investigations for the detection of materials, which is still a serious puzzle for technical specialists in the field of explosives analysis, become a must. This work develops a simple on-site scheme for the precious swap sampling, separation, and identification of both organic and inorganic residues. Application of Ion Trap Mobility Spectrometry (ITMS) was essential to ensure the existence of explosive traces in post-explosion collected residues. Then, separating organic and inorganic traces was an essential step before utilizing the analysis techniques. Fine-tuned High-performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) was able to detect organic explosive traces with a minimum detection limit of 0.5ppm. On the other hand, Ion Chromatography (IC) was capable to effectively discriminate the levels of inorganic anions and cations of ammonium nitrate, ammonium perchlorate, potassium chlorate, and black powder explosive with a minimum detection limit of 0.1 ppm. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Inorganic explosives; Trace analysis; Forensic Investigations; Explosion residues; and Post-explosion analysis | ||
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