Andrés Z. Mendiburu

Flammability limits: A review with emphasis on ethanol for aeronautical applications and description of the experimental procedure

The lower and upper flammability limits of a fuel are key tools for predicting fire, assessing the possibility of explosion, and designing protection systems. Knowledge about the risks involved with the explosion of both gaseous and vaporized liquid fuel mixtures with air is very important to guarantee safety in industrial, domestic, and aeronautical applications. Currently, most countries use various standard experimental tests, which lead to different experimental values for these limits. A comprehensive literature review of the flammability limits of combustible mixtures is developed here in order to organize the theoretical and practical knowledge of the subject. The main focus of this paper is the review of the flammability data of ethanol-air mixtures available in the literature. In addition, the description of methodology for experiments to find the upper and lower limits of flammability of ethanol for aeronautical applications is discussed. A heated spherical 20L vessel was used. The mixtures were ignited with electrode rods placed in the center of the vessel, and the spark gap was 6.4mm. LFL and the UFL were determined for ethanol (hydrated ethanol 96% °INPM) as functions of temperature for atmospheric pressure to compare results with data published in the scientific literature.

Estimation of lower flammability limits of C-H compounds in air at atmospheric pressure, evaluation of temperature dependence and diluent effect.

Estimation of the lower flammability limits of C-H compounds at 25 °C and 1 atm; at moderate temperatures and in presence of diluent was the objective of this study. A set of 120 C-H compounds was divided into a correlation set and a prediction set of 60 compounds each. The absolute average relative error for the total set was 7.89%; for the correlation set, it was 6.09%; and for the prediction set it was 9.68%. However, it was shown that by considering different sources of experimental data the values were reduced to 6.5% for the prediction set and to 6.29% for the total set. The method showed consistency with Le Chateliers law for binary mixtures of C-H compounds. When tested for a temperature range from 5 °C to 100 °C, the absolute average relative errors were 2.41% for methane; 4.78% for propane; 0.29% for iso-butane and 3.86% for propylene. When nitrogen was added, the absolute average relative errors were 2.48% for methane; 5.13% for propane; 0.11% for iso-butane and 0.15% for propylene. When carbon dioxide was added, the absolute relative errors were 1.80% for methane; 5.38% for propane; 0.86% for iso-butane and 1.06% for propylene.

Flammability limits of hydrated and anhydrous ethanol at reduced pressures in aeronautical applications

There is interest in finding the flammability limits of ethanol at reduced pressures for the future use of this biofuel in aeronautical applications taking into account typical commercial aviation altitude (<40,000 ft). The lower and upper flammability limits (LFL and UFL, respectively) for hydrated ethanol and anhydrous ethanol (92.6% and 99.5% p/p, respectively) were determined for a pressure of 101.3 kPa at temperatures between 0 and 200°C. A heating chamber with a spherical 20-l vessel was used. First, LFL and the UFL were determined as functions of temperature and atmospheric pressure to compare results with data published in the scientific literature. Second, after checking the veracity of the data obtained for standard atmospheric pressure, the work proceeded with reduced pressures in the same temperature range. 295 experiments were carried out in total; the first 80 were to calibrate the heating chamber and compare the results with those given in the published scientific literature. 215 experiments were performed both at atmospheric and reduced pressures. The results had a correlation with the values obtained for the LFL, but values for the UFL had some differences. With respect to the water content in ethanol, it was shown that the water vapor contained in the fuel can act as an inert substance, narrowing flammability.

Estimation of upper flammability limits of C–H compounds in air at standard atmospheric pressure and evaluation of temperature dependence

This study focuses on estimating the upper flammability limits of C-H compounds. A method was developed to determine the upper flammability limits in air at standard atmospheric pressure for the following cases: (a) estimation of the UFLs of pure C-H compounds at standard ambient temperature (25°C); (b) estimation of the UFLs of binary mixtures of C-H compounds at standard ambient temperature (25°C); (c) estimation of the UFLs of C-H compounds at different initial temperatures. The method was accurate in all cases. In case (a), for a total set of 115 compounds, the absolute average relative error was 7.27% and a squared correlation coefficient of 0.9248 was obtained. In case (b), the average absolute relative error was 5.55%; in case (c) it was 2.19%.