A nearly 2-mile stretch of Interstate 70 in Kansas City was closed after a tanker truck crashed and exploded into flames, injuring the driver.
Kansas City Fire Department responded just before 5:00 a.m. Friday after a tanker truck carrying propyl acetate, propylene glycol, and an alcohol-based chemical overturned and exploded on Interstate 70 between Manchester Trafficway and Interstate 435.
A tanker truck crashed and exploded on Interstate 70 just west of Interstate 435 in Kansas City, Missouri , on Friday morning, shutting down the highway.
Propyl acetate, also known as propyl ethanoate, is a chemical compound used as a solvent. This clear, colorless liquid is known by its characteristic odor of pears. Due to this fact, it is commonly used in fragrances and as a flavor additive. It is formed by the esterification of acetic acid and 1-propanol, often via Fischer–Speier esterification.
Incompatibilities & Reactivities Nitrates:
strong oxidizers, alkalis & acids
Exposure Routes inhalation:
ingestion, skin and/or eye contact
Symptoms In animals:
irritation eyes, nose, throat; narcosis; dermatitis
Target Organs:
Eyes, skin, respiratory system, central nervous system
Propylene glycol, also called 1,2-propanediol or propane-1,2-diol, is an organic compound (a diol or double alcohol) with formula C3H8O2. It is a colorless, nearly odorless, clear, viscous liquid with a faintly sweet taste, hygroscopic and miscible with water, acetone, and chloroform.
Propylene glycol is known to exert high levels of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) during degradation in surface waters, which can adversely affect aquatic life by consuming oxygen aquatic organisms need to survive. Large quantities of dissolved oxygen (DO) in the water column are consumed when microbial populations decompose propylene glycol.
In the human body, propylene glycol is rapidly converted into lactic acid, in a similar manner to what happens with with sugar (energy) in the muscles during sports. There is no official hazard classification or labelling of propylene glycol.
Third chemical?
UNKNOWN alcohol-based chemical.
See also …
Kansas City Fire Department
West County EMS & Fire Protection District
Kansas City Star map …
(See also The Kansas City Star I-70 open again after all-day closure due to tanker spill and explosion)
View Tanker truck crashes, explodes into flames in a larger map
