King Saud University

College of Engineering
Department of Chemical Engineering
First semester of 1431/1432H

CHE 441

Flash and Fire Point

Name: Dafer M. Al-Shahrani

Univ. No.: 462103969

Supervised by:
Dr. Tariq El-Faris
Eng. Mohammad Gelly

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♠ Contents :

Subject Page

Summary 3

Introduction and Theory 3,4

Experimental Procedure 4

Schematic Diagram 5

Results & Computations 5

Discussions & Conclusions 6

References 6

Appendix 6

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♠ Summary :
The objective of experiment is to determine the flash and fire point for different types
of oils.
Result in table 1.

♠ Introduction & Theory :

The flash point of a volatile liquid is the lowest temperature at which it can vaporize
to form an ignitable mixture in air. Measuring a liquid's flash point requires an
ignition source. At the flash point, the vapor may cease to burn when the source of
ignition is removed.

The flash point is not to be confused with the auto ignition temperature, which does
not require an ignition source.

The fire point, a higher temperature, is defined as the temperature at which the vapor
continues to burn after being ignited. Neither the flash point nor the fire point is
related to the temperature of the ignition source or of the burning liquid, which are
much higher.

The flash point is often used as a descriptive characteristic of liquid fuel, and it is also
used to help characterize the fire hazards of liquids. “Flash point” refers to both
flammable liquids and combustible liquids. There are various standards for defining
each term. Most people agree that liquids with a flash point less than 60.5°C (141°F)
or 37.8°C (100°F) are flammable, and liquids with a flash point above those
temperatures are combustible.[1]

Mechanism

Every liquid has a vapor pressure, which is a function of that liquid's temperature. As
the temperature increases, the vapor pressure increases. As the vapor pressure
increases, the concentration of evaporated flammable liquid in the air increases.
Hence, temperature determines the concentration of evaporated flammable liquid in
the air.

Each flammable liquid requires a different concentration of its vapor in air to sustain
combustion. The flash point of a flammable liquid is the lowest temperature at which
there will be enough flammable vapor to ignite when an ignition source is applied.[1]
Measuring flash points

There are two basic types of flash point measurement: open cup and closed cup.

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In open cup devices the sample is contained in an open cup which is heated, and at
intervals a flame is brought over the surface. The measured flash point will actually
vary with the height of the flame above the liquid surface, and at sufficient height the
measured flash point temperature will coincide with the fire point. The best known
example is the Cleveland open cup (COC).

There are two types of closed cup testers: non-equilibrium, such as Pensky-Martens
where the vapours above the liquid are not in temperature equilibrium with the liquid,
and equilibrium, such as Small Scale (commonly known as Setaflash) where the
vapors are deemed to be in temperature equilibrium with the liquid. In both these
types the cups are sealed with a lid through which the ignition source can be
introduced. Closed cup testers normally give lower values for the flash point than
open cup (typically 5-10 °C) and are a better approximation to the temperature at
which the vapor pressure reaches the lower flammable limit (LFL) .[1]

♠ Experimental Procedure :
 Filled the cup with the oil.
 Start heating the oil and passed the flame over the cup each one
degree ̊ C increased this was when there was a lot of vapors formed
over the cup.
 Recorded the lowest temperature at which application of a flame
caused the vapors above the surface of liquid to ignite as the flash
point.
 Continued the heating and recorded the lowest temperature at which
application of flame caused the liquid (petroleum product and other
fluids) to burn for at least 5 sec fire point.
 Cleaned the cup and repeated steps 1-5 for other samples.

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♠ Schematic Diagram :

Fig1: Flash and Fire Point with Open Cup.[3]

♠ Results & Computations :

Table 1: Readings and result of experiment.

Test Type Gulf 100 Gulf 700

Flash Point (C) 258 184
Fire Point (C) 270 210

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♠Discussion and Conclusions :
 The temperature Flash point for gulf 100 greater than for gulf 700.
 The temperature Fire point for gulf 100 greater than for gulf 700.
 The reason is because the density of gulf 100 higher than the density of gulf
700.

♠References :
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_point
[2] Note of Petroleum Engineering Laboratory.
[3] www.petrotest.com/index_256e77448c5d143f37250...

♠Appendix :