Fires and Explosions

Calculations needed for Process Safety Management

We Have all Seen Fires

Fire is a Chemical Reaction

It is exothermic It requires an oxidant The flame is the spectral radiation, usually of hot particles not all flames are visible.

Two Flames
Methanol on the left and acetone on the right Methanol does not form carbon particles and has an invisible flame

Flame Temperature
What is the Flame Temperature of HCl, based HCl, on a 55% H2 and 45% Cl2 feed? H2 + Cl2 = 2 HCl HRx = -22.06 kcal/mol HCl Cps: H2 : 6.62 + 0.00081T HCl : 6.7 + 0.00084T (cal/K mole) This is an energy balance question. Solve the mass balance Determine the adiabatic flame temperature such that the CpdT term balances the heat of reaction

Calculation
Excel spreadsheet

Fire Triangle
A fire needs 3 things: Fuel Oxidant Source of Ignition Remove one there is no fire

Diffusion Flames
If the fuel burns alone the reaction is limited by diffusion of oxygen to the fuel and a sooty flame results Premixing the oxygen and fuel creates a hot blue flame

Flammable Limits
For a mixture in air, the goal is to stay well below the LEL or well above the UEL The lower curve demonstrates the usefulness of N2 for inerting

Pool Fires
For liquid pools (diameter > 1 m), radiative heat transfer dominates Rate of the pool level decreases is

H * where Hc is the heat of combustion; H* is the heat required to convert liquid at T to vapour at Tboiling and y is in units of m/s y

y = 1.27 x 10 6

'

H c

Pool Size
The pool diameter is either fixed by a physical barrier (a dyke), or when the steady state burn rate equals the leak rate

Dmax = 2

Vl

'

D has units of m, and leak rate (m3/s)

Received Thermal Flux

30% - 40% of the energy is emitted as radiation, but smoke reduces this value values range between 170 kW/m2 (clean) to 20 kW/m2 (sooty)

Er = * ( mB H c ) * A * Fp
transmissivity * heat released/area * area * view factor (Fp = 1/4x2) (F 1/4

Sooty Flame with Hot Spots

Example
Estimate the thermal flux, at a receptor 50 m away from a pool fire in a 25 M diameter dyke filled with hydrocarbon liquid. Vl = 0.1 m3/s Hc = 43,700 kJ/kg Hv = 300 kJ/kg Tb = 363 K Tamb = 298 K = 730 kg/m3 Cp 2.5 kJ/kgC kJ/kgC

Solution
H* = Hv + CpdT = 300 + 2.5*(363-298) = 2.5*(363462 kJ/kg y = 1.27 x 10-6 * 43,7000/462 = 1.2x10-4 m/s D = 2 *[0.1/(3.14*1.2 x 10-4)]0.5 = 32.6 m Hence the pool is restricted to the dyked area

Solution - continued
Emax = 0.35 * 730 kg/m3 * 0.00012 m/s * 43,700 kJ/kg

Emax = 1340 kW/m2

Er = 0.7 * 1340 * 491 *2.08 x 10-5 = 9 kW/m2

Area = (25/2)2 = 491 m2 Fp = 1/(4 * * 62.52) = 2.08 x 10-5 m-2

Effects of Thermal Radiation

Radiation Intensity (kW/m2) 37.5 25 12.5 9.5 4 1.6 Effect Sufficient to cause damage to equipment Minimum required to ignite wood Minimum required to melt plastic tubing Pain threshold (8 sec); 2nd degree burn in 20 s Sufficient to cause pain if uncovered No discomfort for long exposure

Link to Dosage and Risk

We can relate the material being processed, and the size of the spill to the effect of the fire The distance between units is dictated by the desire to that a fire in one doesnt effect the doesn other units

Flashing
A liquid under pressure can flash when it is released The release rate is calculated using formulas (flow through a nozzle) The vapour stream becomes a jet fire, and the liquid becomes a pool fire

Jet Fire (a Torch)

The length and diameter of the jet flame are estimated by

L 15 = d j CT

Ma

Mf

CT is the mol fraction fuel in a stoichiometric mixture, and M are the molecular weights

Example
Methane (MW = 16) is released through a 25 mm hole at 100 bar. What is the radiant flux at a distance of 15 m?
CH4 + 2 O2 + 7.52 N2 CO2 + 2 H2O + 7.52 N2 L = 25 mm * (15/0.095) * (29.2/16)0.5 = 5.3 m

Example - continued
Choked flow discharge rate = 8.37 kg/s In this case, the flame centre is (2 m + 2.5 m = 4.5 m) above ground
The distance is x2 = 4.52 + 152; x = 15.7 m

Er = 0.7 * (0.2*8.37*50,000 kJ/kg) * 3.25 x 10-4

= 22.1 kW/m2

Physical Explosions
The energy released when a gas pressure is reduced is estimated using the Brode equation, for a vessel of volume V at pressure P1

E=

( P P0 ) V 1 1

TNT equivalent is 4.686 kJ/g TNT

The Physical Explosion is Small What Happens Afterwards is the Problem

Unconfined Vapour Cloud Explosion

Use the TNT method

W=

M H c
ETNT

Use a release estimate for the mass of vapour and determine the TNT equivalency

UCVE Example
Determine the distance to a 5 psi overpressure for 10 te of propane Energy = 10,000 kg * 46,350 kJ/kg = 464 GJ WTNT = 0.05 * 464 GJ/4.686 kJ/g = 5.0 te TNT

UCVE - continued
5 psig overpressure: P/Po = 5/14.7 = 0.34 Z = 5.7 m/kg1/3 Distance = 5.7 * 50001/3 = 97 m

Scaled Distance
Scaled Distance
100

Pmax (P/Pamb)

10

1 0.1 0.1 1 10 100

0.01 ze (m/kg^1/3)

Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion

BLEVE
First a physical explosion Then a fireball Estimates
Dmax (m) = 5.8 M1/3 Time (s) = 0.45 M1/3 Centre of height (m) = 0.75 Dmax

10