• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.356-361
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• 2020

Propylene is widely used in petrochemical manufacturing at over 200 ℃. However, since propylene is a flammable gas with fire and explosion risks, inert nitrogen is injected to prevent them. In this study, experiments were conducted using propylene-nitrogen-oxygen upon pressure changes at 200 ℃. At 21% oxygen, as pressure increased from 0.10 MPa to 0.25 MPa, lower explosion limit (LEL) decreased from 2.2% to 1.9% while upper explosion limit (UEL) increased from 14.8% to 17.6%. In addition, minimum oxygen concentration (MOC) decreased from 10.3% to 10.0%, indicating higher risks with the expanded explosive range as pressure increased. With increase of pressure from 0.10 MPa to 0.25 MPa, explosion pressure increased from 1.84 MPa to 6.04 MPa, and the rate of rise of maximum explosion pressure increased drastically from 90 MPa/s to 298 MPa/s. It is hoped that these results can be used as basic data to prevent accidents in factories using propylene.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.164-169
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• 2015

Recent research has focused on alternative fuel to improve engine performance and to comply with emission regulation. Finding an alternative fuel and reducing environment pollution are the main goals for future internal combustion engines. The purpose of this study is to obtain low-emission and high-efficiency by hydrogen enriched CNG fuel in SI engine and is to clarify the effects of hydrogen enrichment in CNG fuelled engine on exhaust emission and performance. An experimental study was carried out to obtain fundamental data for performance and emission characteristics of hydrogen enrichment in SI engine. The experiment was conducted at 2500 rpm, bmep 2 bar, 4 bar conditions while CNG fuel was mixed with 10, 20 and 30% hydrogen blends. From the experimental results, combustion duration was shortened due to rapid flame propagation velocity of hydrogen and these were attributed to the burning velocity increasing exponentially with increasing hydrogen blending ratio. Hydrogen has much wider flammable limit than methane, gasoline and the minimum ignition energy is about an order of magnitude lower than for other combustion. By adding hydrogen, $CO_2$ and HC were reduced. However, $NO_X$ was increased dut to high rate of heat release for hydrogen substitutions.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.1-6
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• 2017

A fire resistance certification needs to be obtained before fire protection paint can be used in Korea. In the case of paint, the tests for certification are fire, gas hazard and bond strength. According to the hazard test standard of combustion gas, 16 mice are sacrificed every test. Therefore, there are ethical problems for the experimenter and legal problems for the laboratory. Accordingly, many alternatives are being assessed, such as combustion gas analysis, but they have not replaced animal testing yet. With gas hazard testing, the exhaust gas temperature can be measured. The property of the initial reaction of a specific fire paint can be characterized by this temperature. The purpose of this study was to consider the improvement point for a gas hazard test through comparative analysis of the exhaust temperature and the time of death of the mice.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2022

Most factories deal with toxic or flammable chemicals in their industrial processes. These hazardous substances pose a risk of leakage due to accidents, such as fire and explosion. In the event of chemical release, massive casualties and property damage can result; hence, quantitative risk prediction and assessment are necessary. Several methods are available for evaluating chemical dispersion in the atmosphere, and most analyses are considered neutral in dispersion models and under far-field wind condition. The foregoing assumption renders a model valid only after a considerable time has elapsed from the moment chemicals are released or dispersed from a source. Hence, an initial dispersion model is required to assess risk quantitatively and predict the extent of damage because the most dangerous locations are those near a leak source. In this study, the dispersion model for initial consequence analysis was developed with three-dimensional unsteady advective diffusion equation. In this expression, instantaneous leakage is assumed as a puff, and wind velocity is considered as a coordinate transform in the solution. To minimize the buoyant force, ethane is used as leaked fuel, and two different diffusion coefficients are introduced. The calculated concentration field with a molecular diffusion coefficient shows a moving circular iso-line in the horizontal plane. The maximum concentration decreases as time progresses and distance increases. In the case of using a coefficient for turbulent diffusion, the dispersion along the wind velocity direction is enhanced, and an elliptic iso-contour line is found. The result yielded by a widely used commercial program, ALOHA, was compared with the end point of the lower explosion limit. In the future, we plan to build a more accurate and general initial risk assessment model by considering the turbulence diffusion and buoyancy effect on dispersion.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.5 no.4 s.16
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• pp.1-7
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• 2001

This paper presents a 'consequence analysis' for vapor cloud explosions caused by heavy gas leakages from commercially used storage tanks at petrochemical plants. Particularly, this paper emphasizes on evaluating the results of various vapor cloud explosion accidents from Butane storage tanks. Also this paper analyses the impact of variables on the accidents in order to acquire the optimum conditions for variables. $SuperChems^{TM}$ Professional Edition was applied to analyse the impact (If atmospheric and other variables in the situation where vapor cloud continuously disperses from the ground level. Under the assumption that practical operating conditions are selected as a standard condition, and Butane leaks from the storage tank for 15 minutes, the results show that the maximum distance of LFL (Lower Flammable Limit) was 52 meters and overpressure by the vapor cloud explosion was 1 psi at 128.2 meters. It is observed that the impact of the variables on accidental Butane storage tank leakage mainly varied upon atmospheric stability, wind velocity, pipe line size, visible length, etc., and changes in the simulation result occurred as the variables varied. The maximum distance of the LFL (Lower Flammable Limit) increased as the visible length became shorter, the size of the leak became larger, the wind velocity was decreased, and the climatic conditions became more stable. Thus, by analysing the variables that influence the simulation results of explosions of Butane storage tanks containing heavy gases, I am presenting the most appropriate method for 'consequence analysis' and the selection of standards for suitable values of variables, to obtain the most optimal conditions for the best results.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.25-30
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• 2017

Because of the vertical combustion characteristics of combustible substances, accurate substance safety information for their safe use, handling and transportation is essential. The flash point, fire point, explosion limits and autoignition temperature (AIT) are important safety parameters which need special attention in chemical plants and laboratories that handle dangerous materials. In this study, tert-butylbenzene which is widely used as an intermediate material in the chemical industry was selected. For the reliability of the flammable properties of tert-butylbenzene, this study was investigated the explosion limits of tert-butylbenzene in the reference data. The flash points, fire points and AITs by the ignition delay time for tert-butylbenzene were experimented. The lower flash points of tert-butylbenzene by using the Setaflash and Pensky-Martens closed-cup testers measured $39^{\circ}C$ and $44^{\circ}C$, respectively. The flash points of tert-butylbenzene by using the Tag and Cleveland open cup testers are measured $51^{\circ}C$ and $54^{\circ}C$. And the fire points of tert-butylbenzene by the Tag and Cleveland open cup testers were $54^{\circ}C$ and $58^{\circ}C$ respectively. The AIT of tert-butylbenzene measured by the ASTM 659E tester was measured as $450^{\circ}C$. The lower explosion limit of $39^{\circ}C$ which measured by the Setaflash flash point tester was calculated to be 0.68 vol%.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.5 no.2 s.14
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• pp.36-42
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• 2001

A leak of fuel gas in partially confined area creates a flammable atmosphere and give rise to an explosion, which is one of the most common accident in domestic. Observations from accident in domestic suggest that some explosions are caused by a quantify of fuel significantly less than lower explosion limit(LEL) amount required to fill the room, which is attributed to inhomogeneous mixing of leaked gas. The minimum amount of leaked gas for explosion is highly dependent on the mixing degree in the area. For lighter gas, such as methane, a high concentration tends to build up in the space from ceiling of room. But heavy gas, such as propane, a high concentration tends to build up in the space from bottom of room. This paper presents a method for analysing the explosion hazard in a room with very small amount of leaked gas. Based on explosion limit concentration, the gaussian distribution model is used to estimate the minimum amount of leak which yields a specified explosion pressure. The results demonstrate that catastrophic structural damage can be achieved with a volume of fuel gas which is less than 0.5 percent of the total enclosed volume in domestic. The method will help analyzing hazard to develop new safe device as well as investigating accident.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.8-14
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• 2023

Lithium ions can induce the thermal runaway phenomenon and lead to reignition due to electrical, mechanical, and environmental factors such as high temperature, smoke generation, explosions, or flames, which is extremely likely to create safety concerns. Therefore, one of the ways to improve the flame retardancy of the electrolyte is to use a flame-retardant additive. Comparing the associated characteristic value of existing substances with the required experimental value, it was found that these values were either considerably different or were not documented. It is vital to know a substance's combustion characteristic values, flash point, explosion limit, and autoignition temperature (AIT) as well as its combustion characteristics before using it. In this research, the flash point and AIT of materials were measured by mixing a highly volatile and flammable substance, diethyl carbonate (DEC), with flame-retardant dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP). The flash point of DEC, which is a pure substance, was 29℃, and that for DMMP was 65℃. Further, the lower explosion limit calculated using the measured flash point of DEC was 1.79 Vol.%, while that for DMMP was 0.79 Vol.%. The AIT was 410℃ and 390℃ for DEC and DMMP, respectively. In particular, since the AIT of DMMP has not been discussed in any previous study, it is necessary to ensure safety through experimental values. In this study, the experimental and regression analysis revealed that the average absolute deviation (ADD) for the flash point of the DEC+DMMP DEC+DMMP system is 0.58 sec and that the flash point tends to increase according to changes in the composition employed. It also revealed that the AAD for the AIT of the mixture was 3.17 sec and that the AIT tended to decrease and then increase based on changes in the composition.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.15-23
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• 2007

In the events of a fire in the residential building, highly flammable polyurethane foam sofa produce toxic smokes. In this type of fire, the residents of the building can be gotten into the difficulties of evacuating from the fire places or may be to death due to a lot of hot toxic gases. In this study, CFD simulations were carried out to study the effects of the openings of stairwell on the fire characteristics of fire room and stairwell. Also, analysis of fire hazard based on the tenability limits of fire and FED(fractional effective dose) was performed to evaluate the life safety of the residents of the building. In the fire room, maximum temperature was about $290^{\circ}C$, maximum CO concentration was about 4,740 ppm, and the time to incapacitation of residents in fire room was about t=144 s. In the stairwell, temperature and CO concentration in the condition of openings to be open were even lower than those in it to be closed. Time to the tenability limit with respect to smoke visibility in the stairwell with openings, which was open, was shorter than that of it without openings to be open. It has been shown from this study that opening the stairwell openings is able to decrease the fire hazards to the life safety in the multi-story residential building fire.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.594-600
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• 2016

The present study numerically investigated the gas leakage characteristics in a simplified underground combined cycle power plant. The effect of obstacles near a crack location on the gas concentration in the confined space was analyzed by using the lower flammable limit (LFL) of methane gas. When the jet flow was close to the vertical walls, the longitudinal leakage distance increased by about 60% (when an obstacles was present) compared to the case without any obstacle, because these obstacles prevented transverse flows. In addition, when an air filter was installed near to the trajectory of the gas flow, the longitudinal leakage distance was similar to the distance between the crack and obstacle, whereas the transverse leakage distance increased up to 8 times compared to the case without any obstacle. As the jet flow impacts on the obstacle and changes its direction, the gas flows recirculate. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the effect of the structure and facility locations on the trajectory of the jet flow to propose an accident prevention system in confined spaces.