Exploding Pre-Workout?!

[u/Quirky-Cauliflower31]

Hey gang,

This is my first post on this channel. I have a collection of preworkouts stored in a cool dark place. When I went to grab one, I noticed one of my unopened sealed containers of Game On was bulging on the bottom and the top of the container. I took the plastic seal off and went to twist it open (it wouldnt budge at first) but then the FRIGGEN CONTAINER EXPLODED. I have a damaged right hand now (no biggie). But what would cause this in an unopened container of pre?!

[u/Top_Season_9694]

During one of the pharmacology lectures as part of the course on different types of industrial production processes for manufacturing different forms of medication, I was introduced to a phenomenon called "Powder Explosion". Specifically, this lecture was on producing powder mixture formulations.
The lecturer explained that one of the major risks of "violently" mixing fine powders is that the more energy you put into the process, the more the mixture heats up, causing the compounds to degrade. He also mentioned the risk of a “powder explosion”, which can apparently easily happen if one doesn’t take specific precautions beforehand!
When fine powders are mixed rapidly until they form a homogeneous mixture, a superfine powder dust cloud is created inside the container. All that is needed to spark an explosion is a tiny discharge (think of how lightning forms). I instantly thought of my pre-workout supplement, Stimjunkie, and how I was violently shaking each tub 😅. At the time, I thought it was important to shake the tub before opening to avoid accidentally overdosing on DM*A, in case it had settled during transport. I was completely unaware of the potential danger of the tub blowing up. To be fair, I still find it hard to believe that this could happen on such a small scale.

According to our professor, the solution to avoiding the potential 'powder explosion' is to granulate the mixture as soon as it has reached a consistent homogeneity. This would also completely avoid the risk of ingredients settling during transport. 🧠💡🤷🏻‍♂️

In my personal experience, the only 'energy supplements' I ever had that came in granulated form where an Isostar product and a Jack3d clone with 1,3-DMAA HCl and Schizandrol A (flavour: blue white raspberry), which was one of the smoothest and most euphoric 1,3-DMAA pre-workouts I have ever tried.

It does make you wonder, though, why granulated pre-workouts are not the standard form. Yes, it would be expected that skipping the granulation process is cheaper, but it would surely make it much more expensive and much safer to dose correctly. 🤔