Chemical spill closes all lanes on Chicago expressway at La Grange Road
SUMMIT, Ill. (CBS) -- All lanes were closed for hours on the Stevenson Expressway at La Grange Road for hours Friday due to a chemical spill Friday.
Inbound lanes reopened around 4:15 p.m., after more than eight hours. Two outbound lanes reopened by about 4:45 p.m., and all lanes finally reopened by just before 6 p.m.
The Illinois Department of Transportation confirmed chemicals leaked from a semi-trailer stopped on the right shoulder of the Stevenson (I-55) at 8:09 a.m. Friday.
Summit Fire Chief Anthony Anderson a truck driver reported to first responders that fluids were leaking out of a container. A Level 1 hazardous materials response was called, and a Level 2 response followed 30 to 45 minutes later for more equipment and manpower.
The truck had a mixed load on board – including organic peroxide, hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), phosphoric acid (H₃PO₄), and sodium hydroxide (NaOH), Anderson said.
The semi-trailer truck swerved after a car cut its driver off – and the chemical drums inside shifted – causing a puncture in three 55-gallon drums of organic peroxide, which leaked and caused a plume, Anderson said. Hydrogen peroxide also spilled, he said.
There were concerns about a possible fire, he said.
By 4 p.m., the shutdown had been in effect for eight hours – but the leak had been mitigated.
Crews in protective suits entered the trailer J.B. Hunt Intermodal semi-trailer truck from the back – and emptied the steel drums that had been leaking the chemical into larger yellow spill drums.
Also set up in the roadway were a row of carboys – big poly tanks to contain the chemicals – as well as containment drums and other mitigating items. Once securely collected, the chemicals were to be put into another 18-wheel tractor-trailer and hauled away.
By 4:30 p.m., the Summit Fire Department had left the scene.
There were no injuries.
How are peroxides dangerous?
John Anderson – an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Chicago – said while hydrogen peroxide may be thought of as a benign chemical people have in their medicine cabinet, it can be dangerous at higher concentrations.
"So you might find a 3 percent in the grocery store. You can bleach hair with it – so peroxide blonde is kind of a phrase you might hear, so that's like 10 percent in water. And then when you get up to like 20 or 30 or higher percentages, you can use that to actually like bleach paper, and for other kind of applications in industry," Professor Anderson said. "So I think when you get it concentrated – and that's what I suspect they have here, but I don't know – it can be quite hazardous, right?"
The dangers range from injury to explosion.
"It can burn your skin. If you spill it on your skin, you'll actually have white, bleached skin because of it – and it can cause burns," Professor Anderson said. "It can also be explosive if it's concentrated – so particularly if it encounters a certain stimulant that might cause it to detonate. It can also mix with other chemicals – so like, if there's gasoline or fuel around, that can mix and make an explosive mixture."
As to cleaning up hydrogen peroxide and mitigating the danger, Professor Anderson said there are a couple of different actions crews could be taking. For one, hydrogen peroxide is safe to dispose of if diluted with enough water.
"You can pour 3 percent hydrogen peroxide down your sink," said Professor Anderson.
But if the chemical is highly concentrated, other chemicals may be needed to neutralize it, he explained. Many chemicals are suitable for such a mission, but it must be done carefully.
"So maybe something where they need to dilute it sufficiently with water to then neutralize it safely. Your body can actually do that with a class of enzymes called catalases that are very good at turning hydrogen peroxide into oxygen and water," Professor Anderson said. "You can do one of the experiments we do in chemistry classrooms is we add a certain catalyst – sometimes it's iron metal – which can catalyze that same reaction. But if you do that on concentrated hydrogen peroxide, it can be very, very vigorous. You'll actually generate oxygen and a lot of heat and steam."
Professor Anderson also noted that while hydrogen peroxide is hazardous as high concentrations – and will kill all the fish if poured recklessly into a pond – it also decays into oxygen and water quickly.
However, organic peroxide also spilled in addition to hydrogen peroxide.
Like hydrogen peroxide, organic peroxides are defined by a functional group – the part of a molecule that is responsible for a substance's characteristic chemical reactions – that includes two oxygen atoms. Unlike hydrogen peroxide, organic peroxides also contain carbon atoms.
Organic peroxides, a category that includes many different chemicals, are used in polymer manufacturing and modification. Stanford University noted that some organic peroxides are "explosive, corrosive, and toxic – and present extreme fire hazards."
While Professor Anderson explained hydrogen peroxide can be diluted with water to be cleaned up, this was not the case with the organic peroxide that spilled.
Fire Chief Anderson said his crews were told not to add water to the chemical spill, and instead put down a layer of sand on the pavement and inside the truck.
Fire Chief Anderson also said the expressway was shut down for a long period of time because the chemical reaction risked causing a fire – and some of the product also leaked down from the elevated expressway onto Santa Fe Drive below.
There are also no fire hydrants on the elevated bridge on the Stevenson in that area, so a water supply was brought to the scene by Westmont police, fire Chief Anderson said.
Fire Chief Anderson also explained why the whole expressway had to be shut down.
"It was more of a safety factor," he said. "We didn't want it to spread or cause more injuries to everybody else, because everybody else likes to stop and gawk, so we said better off shutting down the highway."
