NOAA CAMEO Chemicals

Chemical storage compatibility chart and checker

Know which drums must never share a bund.

Add two or more chemicals by name, CAS number or reactive group to see which pairs CAMEO rates incompatible or caution, with the hazard and the gases a mix can give off.

Last updated 2026-09-28. Math runs in your browser, no data leaves your computer.

Add everything that could meet in one store, bund, tank or spill path. Each pair is rated from the reactive groups NOAA CAMEO Chemicals assigns, so a chemical and its group give the same answer.

Type at least three letters or a full CAS number and pick from the matches, because CAMEO lists grades such as anhydrous and solution as separate datasheets.

Use this when your chemical is not in the name list, reading the group from its CAMEO datasheet, or add Water and Aqueous Solutions to test a wet tank.

Chemicals to check

    Nothing added yet, so add at least two chemicals or groups to rate a pair.

    Before the booking, screen the name on the invoice. Shipment pre-check is on the paid plans, from USD 59 a month.

    General guidance only. Verify against the cited primary sources before you commit to a shipment, declaration, or contract.

    Where the ratings come from

    Every rating on this page comes from CAMEO. The build script added all 68 reactive groups to a CAMEO session on 28 September 2026 and read the Compatibility Chart, which gives the Incompatible, Caution or Compatible rating, the hazard list and the gas list for all 2,278 pairs of different groups. It then searched CAMEO by CAS number for a list of common industrial chemicals and kept each datasheet's own name and group assignments.

    For two chemicals the tool looks at every pair of their groups, as CAMEO describes, and reports the worst rating. Two chemicals from the same group, such as two strong acids, are not on CAMEO's group chart, so the tool shows the hazards from CAMEO's documentation page for that group without a colour rating.

    CAMEO's ratings assume roughly equal amounts mixed thoroughly at one atmosphere and 24 to 49 °C with no catalytic impurities. Three or more chemicals can react together in ways a pairwise check cannot predict, which is the limit CAMEO itself states.

    Worked example. Pool chlorine and acid in one bunded store

    The booking. A distributor plans one bunded area for drums of calcium hypochlorite and IBCs of hydrochloric acid solution, because both go to the same pool and water treatment customers. One bund, one spill kit and one set of signs looks fine on paper.

    The failure. CAMEO puts calcium hypochlorite in Oxidizing Agents, Strong and Salts, Basic, and hydrochloric acid solution in Acids, Strong Non-oxidizing. It rates the acid and strong oxidizer pair Incompatible, with toxic products and gas generation among the hazards and chlorine among the gases, so a leak from both into one bund is a gas release. The choice is simple: split the bunds, or drop one product from that store.

    The fix. The distributor gives the acid its own bund with a separate drain, runs every product in the store through this checker, and confirms the plan on CAMEO before the first delivery. The hypochlorite keeps its bund and the acid ships from the next bay.

    Checking whether the same products can travel on one truck or in one container? The DG classifier gives the class and packing group each one ships under.

    Frequently asked

    How do I check whether two chemicals are compatible?

    Find the reactive groups each chemical belongs to and look up every pair of groups across the two. That is how the NOAA CAMEO Chemicals reactivity tool works, and this checker uses CAMEO's own group assignments and pair ratings. The overall answer for two chemicals is the worst rating among their group pairs.

    What do Incompatible, Caution and Compatible mean?

    CAMEO rates a pair Incompatible when mixing gives off a lot of heat, above about 100 calories per gram, or forms unstable, corrosive, flammable or toxic products or gas. Caution means a hazardous reaction is possible but depends on impurities, instability or a slow reaction. Compatible means the pair is unlikely to be hazardous under CAMEO's mixing scenario.

    What is a reactive group?

    A family of chemicals that react in similar ways because their structures are alike, such as strong non-oxidizing acids, strong bases or strong oxidizing agents. CAMEO assigns every substance with a datasheet to one or more of its reactive groups, and it does not mix a chemical's own groups with each other.

    Can I use this as a storage segregation chart?

    Use it to find the pairs that must not share a bund, a spill path or a tank. Storage segregation also depends on the dangerous goods class, quantities and local rules, such as the Safe Work Australia guide on managing risks of storing chemicals and the fire code in the US, so treat an Incompatible result as a hard flag and a Compatible result as no reason to skip those rules.

    Why is my chemical not in the list?

    The name list covers common industrial chemicals whose CAMEO datasheet carries a single CAS number, which leaves out mixtures and solutions with several numbers. If your chemical is missing, look it up on CAMEO Chemicals, read its reactive groups off the datasheet, and add those groups here from the second box.

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    Related tools

    Sourzi shows what official files say. It is not customs or legal advice. For a binding answer, ask a licensed customs broker, a CBP ruling or an Australian Border Force Tariff Advice.

    File dates and links are on Data sources.