Mixtures of dispersed combustible materials (such as gaseous or vaporised fuels, and some dusts) and oxygen in the air will burn only if the fuel concentration lies within well-defined lower and upper bounds determined experimentally, referred to as flammability limits or explosive limits. Combustion can range in violence from
deflagration through
detonation
Detonation () is a type of combustion involving a supersonic exothermic front accelerating through a medium that eventually drives a shock front propagating directly in front of it. Detonations propagate supersonically through shock waves with s ...
.
Limits vary with temperature and pressure, but are normally expressed in terms of volume percentage at 25 °C and atmospheric pressure. These limits are relevant both in producing and optimising explosion or combustion, as in an engine, or to preventing it, as in uncontrolled explosions of build-ups of combustible gas or dust. Attaining the best combustible or explosive mixture of a fuel and air (the
stoichiometric
Stoichiometry refers to the relationship between the quantities of reactants and products before, during, and following chemical reactions.
Stoichiometry is founded on the law of conservation of mass where the total mass of the reactants equ ...
proportion) is important in
internal combustion engine
An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal c ...
s such as
gasoline
Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organi ...
or
diesel engine
The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...
s.
The standard reference work is still that elaborated by
Michael George Zabetakis, a
fire safety engineering specialist, using an apparatus developed by the
United States Bureau of Mines
For most of the 20th century, the United States Bureau of Mines (USBM) was the primary United States government agency conducting scientific research and disseminating information on the extraction, processing, use, and conservation of mineral ...
.
Violence of combustion
Combustion can vary in degree of violence. A
deflagration is a propagation of a combustion zone at a velocity less than the speed of sound in the unreacted medium. A
detonation
Detonation () is a type of combustion involving a supersonic exothermic front accelerating through a medium that eventually drives a shock front propagating directly in front of it. Detonations propagate supersonically through shock waves with s ...
is a propagation of a combustion zone at a velocity greater than the speed of sound in the unreacted medium. An
explosion is the bursting or rupture of an enclosure or container due to the development of internal pressure from a deflagration or detonation as defined in
NFPA 69.
Limits
Lower flammability limit
Lower flammability limit (LFL): The lowest concentration (percentage) of a gas or a vapor in air capable of producing a flash of fire in the presence of an ignition source (arc, flame, heat). The term is considered by many safety professionals to be the same as the lower explosive level (LEL). At a concentration in air lower than the LFL, gas mixtures are "too lean" to burn.
Methane gas has an LFL of 4.4%. If the atmosphere has less than 4.4% methane, an explosion cannot occur even if a source of ignition is present. From the health and safety perspective, the LEL concentration is considered to be
Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health (IDLH), where a more stringent exposure limit does not exist for the flammable gas.
Percentage reading on combustible air monitors should not be confused with the LFL concentrations.
Explosimeters designed and calibrated to a specific gas may show the relative concentration of the atmosphere to the LFL—the LFL being 100%. A 5% displayed LFL reading for methane, for example, would be equivalent to 5% multiplied by 4.4%, or approximately 0.22% methane by volume at 20 degrees C. Control of the explosion hazard is usually achieved by sufficient natural or mechanical ventilation, to limit the concentration of flammable gases or vapors to a maximum level of 25% of their ''lower explosive or flammable limit''.
Upper flammability limit
Upper flammability limit (UFL): Highest concentration (percentage) of a gas or a vapor in air capable of producing a flash of fire in the presence of an ignition source (arc, flame, heat). Concentrations higher than UFL or UEL are "too rich" to burn. Operating above the UFL is usually avoided for safety because air leaking in can bring the mixture into combustibility range.
Influence of temperature, pressure and composition
Flammability limits of mixtures of several combustible gases can be calculated using
Le Chatelier's mixing rule for combustible volume fractions
:
:
and similar for UFL.
Temperature
Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measurement, measured with a thermometer.
Thermometers are calibrated in various Conversion of units of temperature, temp ...
,
pressure
Pressure (symbol: ''p'' or ''P'') is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure (also spelled ''gage'' pressure)The preferred spelling varies by country and e ...
, and the concentration of the oxidizer also influences flammability limits. Higher temperature or pressure, as well as higher concentration of the oxidizer (primarily oxygen in air), results in lower LFL and higher UFL, hence the gas mixture will be easier to explode.
Usually atmospheric air supplies the oxygen for combustion, and limits assume the normal concentration of oxygen in air. Oxygen-enriched atmospheres enhance combustion, lowering the LFL and increasing the UFL, and vice versa; an atmosphere devoid of an oxidizer is neither flammable nor explosive for any fuel concentration (except for gases that can energetically decompose even in the absence of an oxidizer, such as
acetylene). Significantly increasing the fraction of inert gases in an air mixture, at the expense of oxygen, increases the LFL and decreases the UFL.
Controlling explosive atmospheres
Gas and vapor
Controlling gas and vapor concentrations outside the flammable limits is a major consideration in
occupational safety and health. Methods used to control the concentration of a potentially explosive gas or vapor include use of sweep gas, an unreactive gas such as
nitrogen
Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...
or
argon
Argon is a chemical element with the symbol Ar and atomic number 18. It is in group 18 of the periodic table and is a noble gas. Argon is the third-most abundant gas in Earth's atmosphere, at 0.934% (9340 ppmv). It is more than twice as ...
to dilute the explosive gas before coming in contact with air. Use of scrubbers or
adsorption
Adsorption is the adhesion of atoms, ions or molecules from a gas, liquid or dissolved solid to a surface. This process creates a film of the ''adsorbate'' on the surface of the ''adsorbent''. This process differs from absorption, in which ...
resins to remove explosive gases before release are also common. Gases can also be maintained safely at concentrations above the UEL, although a breach in the storage container can lead to explosive conditions or intense
fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products.
At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames a ...
s.
Dusts
Dusts also have upper and lower explosion limits, though the upper limits are hard to measure and of little practical importance. Lower flammability limits for many organic materials are in the range of 10–50 g/m³, which is much higher than the limits set for health reasons, as is the case for the LEL of many gases and vapours. Dust clouds of this concentration are hard to see through for more than a short distance, and normally only exist inside process equipment.
Flammability limits also depend on the particle size of the dust involved, and are not intrinsic properties of the material. In addition, a concentration above the LEL can be created suddenly from settled dust accumulations, so management by routine monitoring, as is done with gases and vapours, is of no value. The preferred method of managing combustible dust is by preventing accumulations of settled dust through process enclosure, ventilation, and surface cleaning. However, lower flammability limits may be relevant to plant design.
Volatile liquids
Situations caused by evaporation of flammable liquids into the air-filled void volume of a container may be limited by flexible container volume or by using an immiscible fluid to fill the void volume.
Hydraulic tankers use displacement of water when filling a tank with petroleum.
Examples
The flammable/explosive limits of some gases and vapors are given below. Concentrations are given in percent by volume of air.
* Class IA liquids with a
flash point less than and
boiling point less than have a
NFPA 704
"NFPA 704: Standard System for the Identification of the Hazards of Materials for Emergency Response" is a standard maintained by the U.S.-based National Fire Protection Association. First "tentatively adopted as a guide" in 1960, and revised se ...
flammability rating of 4
* Class IB liquids with a flash point less than and a boiling point equal to or greater than and class IC liquids with a flash point equal to or greater than , but less than have a NFPA 704 flammability rating of 3
* Class II liquids with a flash point equal to or greater than , but less than and class IIIA liquids with a flash point equal to or greater than , but less than have a NFPA 704 flammability rating of 2
* Class IIIB liquids with a flash point equal to or greater than have a NFPA 704 flammability rating of 1
ASTM E681
In the U.S. the most common method of measuring LFLs and UFLs i
ASTM E681 This standard test is required for
HAZMAT Class 2 Gases The HAZMAT Class 2 in United States law includes all gases which are compressed and stored for transportation. Class 2 has three divisions: Flammable (also called ''combustible''), Non-Flammable/Non-Poisonous, and Poisonous. This classification is ...
and for determining
refrigerant flammability classifications. This standard uses visual observations of flame propagation in 5 or 12 L spherical glass vessels to measure the flammability limits. Flammable conditions are defined as those for which a flame propagates outside a 90° cone angle.
See also
*
Flammability
A combustible material is something that can burn (i.e., ''combust'') in air. A combustible material is flammable if it ignites easily at ambient temperatures. In other words, a combustible material ignites with some effort and a flammable mat ...
*
Limiting oxygen concentration
*
Minimum ignition energy
References
Further reading
* David R. Lide, Editor-in-Chief; ''CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 72nd edition''; CRC Press;
Boca Raton, Florida; 1991; {{ISBN, 0-8493-0565-9
Combustion
Explosion protection
Fire
Natural gas safety