Port of Gioia Tauro. A good use of chemistry (one of many): to dissolve chemical weapons (residues that, in this case, are then incinerated in Great Britain and Germany). The storage of 280 containers full of Syrian chemical weapons begins aboard the US naval vessel Cape Ray. The ship will eliminate approximately 700 tons of chemical weapons in 90 days, transported by four Norwegian and Danish naval vessels from Syria to Italy. The Cape Ray then moves out to sea and deactivates them through a hydrolysis process (dissolving them in water, adding reagents such as sodium hydroxide and sodium hypochlorite), transforming them into 6 million liters of liquid. The vessel has a titanium thermal propulsion system with an 8,320-liter capacity and the potential to dispose of 25 tons of aggressive chemicals per day. The decomposition products after hydrolysis, which are far less toxic, will be transferred to Germany and Great Britain for incineration.
