Open AccessHydrogen peroxide (H2O2): a review of its use in homemade explosives
Author(s) -
Grzegorz Rarata,
Mitja Vahčič,
D. Chris Anderson,
Michael Berglund,
Dimitris Kyprianou,
Giovanni Emma,
Gabriela Diaconu
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
materiały wysokoenergetyczne
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2083-0165
DOI - 10.22211/matwys/0188
Subject(s) - explosive material , hydrogen peroxide , environmental science , waste management , forensic engineering , chemistry , engineering , organic chemistry
This article presents an overview of hydrogen peroxide and its use in the illicit production of homemade explosives. Hydrogen peroxide is used extensively around the world in many industries, including aerospace. It is also used as the main ingredient in some household cleaning products. However, it has been illicitly used to create both primary and secondary homemade explosives in recent numerous terrorist attacks across Europe. In this article, we describe the historical background and the characteristics of the substance, the aspects concerning its manufacture and present-day use as a main explosive component or direct chemical precursor of homemade explosives, and the options for detection.