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Truck Carrying Hazardous Liquid In Wreck

By Emily Forrester

18 wheeler tanker truck hauling liquid oxygen is involved in a wreck on Highway 43 in Mobile County.
See accident video Truck Carrying Hazardous Liquid In Wreck

Published: Tue, January 08, 2008 - 4:49 pm

Saraland Police want people to avoid Highway 43 this afternoon. Just before 2:00 p.m., A small pickup truck ran into the back of the big truck. The 18 wheeler was carrying Liquid Oxygen, which is considered a hazardous material. Two women inside the smaller truck were rushed by air ambulances to the USA Medical Center.

Mobile County dispatchers say none of the chemical leaked, but hazmat crews are on the scene to check out the truck. Police say Highway 43 from Saraland to Chickasaw will be closed for a while.

So what is liquid oxygen. Here is a definition from wikipedia:

Liquid oxygen (also LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industry) is a unique form of the element oxygen. It has a pale blue color and is strongly paramagnetic. Liquid oxygen has a density of 1.141 g/cm³ (1.141 kg/L) and is moderately cryogenic (freezing point: 50.5 K (−222.65 °C), boiling point: 90.188 K (−182.96 °C) at 101.325 kPa (760 mm Hg). In commerce, liquid oxygen is classified as an industrial gas and is widely used for industrial and medical purposes. Liquid oxygen is obtained from the oxygen found naturally in air by fractional distillation. Liquid oxygen has an expansion ratio of 860:1, and because of this, is used in commercial and military aircraft today.

Due to its cryogenic nature, LOX can cause the materials it touches to become extremely brittle. Liquid oxygen is also a very powerful oxidising agent: organic materials will burn rapidly and energetically in liquid oxygen. Further; if soaked in LOX some can detonate unpredictably on subsequent contact. Petrochemicals often exhibit this behavior, including asphalt.