The ABCs of ammonia
Sydney, August 12: AMMONIA is a colourless, highly irritating gas with a pungent, suffocating odour.
Eighty per cent of ammonia produced by industry is used in agriculture as fertiliser.
Ammonia is also used as a refrigerant gas, which was the case in yesterday’s incident in Tanjung Karang where six people died after a leak at a refrigeration facility.
Other uses of ammonia are to purify water and in the manufacture of plastics, explosives, textiles, pesticides, dyes and other chemicals.
It is also found in many household and industrial-strength cleaning solutions.