Assessment of sustainable compositions to reduce emissions and sound pressure level of flash powder

IF 7.3 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Environmental Pollution Pub Date : 2025-06-13 DOI:10.1016/j.envpol.2025.126660

David León , Isabel Amez , Roberto Paredes , Dimitrios Pantelakis , Blanca Castells

{"title":"Assessment of sustainable compositions to reduce emissions and sound pressure level of flash powder","authors":"David León , Isabel Amez , Roberto Paredes , Dimitrios Pantelakis , Blanca Castells","doi":"10.1016/j.envpol.2025.126660","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Flash powder, an explosive compound widely used in flash bangers and pyrotechnic shells, among others, has emerged as a critical point in discussions about the negative effects of its use. Currently, fireworks present significant challenges due to their adverse impacts on the environment and the generation of acoustic disturbances in residential and urban areas due, among other compounds, to flash powder. This powder, mainly composed of potassium perchlorate and metallic compounds such as aluminium or magnesium, is crucial to achieve the opening and bursting of pyrotechnic devices. Therefore, it is necessary to develop alternatives that solve the flash powder associated problems to give a sustainable future to the pyrotechnic sector. This study proposes compositions that could be possible alternatives to reduce emissions and sound pressure levels, whit the intention of ensuring suitable performance for these pyrotechnic articles. F2 category flash bangers from different manufacturers were collected. The operation of these bangers was compared in different tests, by adding inert materials such as sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO<sub>3</sub>) and recycled glass, at 10 % and 20 % (w/w), and by replacing the flash powder with nitrocellulose ([C<sub>6</sub>H<sub>7</sub>(NO<sub>2</sub>)<sub>3</sub>O<sub>5</sub>]n), with a nitrogen percentage of less than 12.6 %, as stated in the European pyrotechnics regulation. The samples were subjected to sound pressure level measurements according to EN 15947–4:2022 standard, but also CO and CO<sub>2</sub> emissions were evaluated. It was observed that the compositions studied could lead to a significant reduction in both pollutant emissions and the noise level generated by the pyrotechnic articles. After studying the explosion pressure generated for their substitution in pyrotechnic shells, it is concluded that the addition of inert compounds can be a real alternative. However, the nitrocellulose does not achieve a correct operation as a substitute for flash powder, and nitrocellulose with a higher nitrogen content must be studied.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":311,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Pollution","volume":"381 ","pages":"Article 126660"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Environmental Pollution","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749125010334","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Flash powder, an explosive compound widely used in flash bangers and pyrotechnic shells, among others, has emerged as a critical point in discussions about the negative effects of its use. Currently, fireworks present significant challenges due to their adverse impacts on the environment and the generation of acoustic disturbances in residential and urban areas due, among other compounds, to flash powder. This powder, mainly composed of potassium perchlorate and metallic compounds such as aluminium or magnesium, is crucial to achieve the opening and bursting of pyrotechnic devices. Therefore, it is necessary to develop alternatives that solve the flash powder associated problems to give a sustainable future to the pyrotechnic sector. This study proposes compositions that could be possible alternatives to reduce emissions and sound pressure levels, whit the intention of ensuring suitable performance for these pyrotechnic articles. F2 category flash bangers from different manufacturers were collected. The operation of these bangers was compared in different tests, by adding inert materials such as sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO₃) and recycled glass, at 10 % and 20 % (w/w), and by replacing the flash powder with nitrocellulose ([C₆H₇(NO₂)₃O₅]n), with a nitrogen percentage of less than 12.6 %, as stated in the European pyrotechnics regulation. The samples were subjected to sound pressure level measurements according to EN 15947–4:2022 standard, but also CO and CO₂ emissions were evaluated. It was observed that the compositions studied could lead to a significant reduction in both pollutant emissions and the noise level generated by the pyrotechnic articles. After studying the explosion pressure generated for their substitution in pyrotechnic shells, it is concluded that the addition of inert compounds can be a real alternative. However, the nitrocellulose does not achieve a correct operation as a substitute for flash powder, and nitrocellulose with a higher nitrogen content must be studied.

Abstract Image

查看原文本刊更多论文

减少闪光粉排放和声压级的可持续成分评估

闪光粉是一种广泛用于闪光弹和烟火弹等的爆炸性化合物，在有关使用闪光粉的负面影响的讨论中，它已成为一个关键点。目前，由于烟花对环境的不利影响以及由于闪光粉等化合物在住宅和城市地区产生的声干扰，烟花面临着重大挑战。这种粉末主要由高氯酸钾和金属化合物如铝或镁组成，是实现烟火装置打开和爆炸的关键。因此，有必要开发解决闪光粉相关问题的替代品，为烟火行业提供可持续的未来。本研究提出的组合物可能是减少排放和声压级的可能替代品，同时确保这些烟火物品的适当性能。收集了不同厂家的F2类闪光灯。在不同的试验中，通过添加惰性材料，如碳酸氢钠（NaHCO3）和再生玻璃，以10%和20% （w/w）的比例，并用氮含量低于12.6%的硝化纤维（[C6H7(NO2)3O5]n）代替闪光粉，比较了这些炸药的运行情况。根据EN 15947-4:2022标准对样品进行声压级测量，同时对CO和CO2排放量进行评估。据观察，所研究的组合物可导致污染物排放和烟火物品产生的噪音水平的显著减少。在研究了它们在烟火弹中替代所产生的爆炸压力后，得出了添加惰性化合物可以真正替代的结论。然而，硝化纤维作为闪粉的替代品并没有达到正确的操作，必须研究含氮量更高的硝化纤维。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Environmental Pollution 环境科学-环境科学

CiteScore

16.00

自引率

6.70%

发文量

2082

审稿时长

2.9 months

期刊介绍： Environmental Pollution is an international peer-reviewed journal that publishes high-quality research papers and review articles covering all aspects of environmental pollution and its impacts on ecosystems and human health. Subject areas include, but are not limited to: • Sources and occurrences of pollutants that are clearly defined and measured in environmental compartments, food and food-related items, and human bodies; • Interlinks between contaminant exposure and biological, ecological, and human health effects, including those of climate change; • Contaminants of emerging concerns (including but not limited to antibiotic resistant microorganisms or genes, microplastics/nanoplastics, electronic wastes, light, and noise) and/or their biological, ecological, or human health effects; • Laboratory and field studies on the remediation/mitigation of environmental pollution via new techniques and with clear links to biological, ecological, or human health effects; • Modeling of pollution processes, patterns, or trends that is of clear environmental and/or human health interest; • New techniques that measure and examine environmental occurrences, transport, behavior, and effects of pollutants within the environment or the laboratory, provided that they can be clearly used to address problems within regional or global environmental compartments.