• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.6
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• pp.790-803
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• 2019

The dioctyl terephthalic acid (DOTP) process produces plastic plasticizers by esterification of terephthalic acid with powder in the form of octanol. In this study, the dust explosion characteristics of terephthalic acid directly injected into the manhole in the form of powder in the presence of flammable solvent or vapor in the reactor of this process were investigated. Dust particle size and particle size distribution dust characteristics were investigated, and pyrolysis characteristics of dust were investigated to estimate fire and explosion characteristics and ignition temperature. Also, the minimum ignition energy experiment was performed to evaluate the explosion sensitivity. As a result, the average particle size of terephthalic acid powder was $143.433{\mu}m$. From the thermal analysis carried out under these particle size and particle size distribution conditions, the ignition temperature of the dust was about $253^{\circ}C$. The lower explosive limit (LEL) of the terephthalic acid was determined to be $50g/m^3$. The minimum ignition energy (MIE) for explosion sensitivity is (10 < MIE < 300) mJ, and the estimated minimum ignition energy (Es) based on the ignition probability is 210 mJ. The maximum explosion pressure ($P_{max}$) and the maximum explosion pressure rise rate $({\frac{dP}{dt}})_{max}$ of terephthalic acid dust were 7.1 bar and 511 bar/s, respectively. The dust explosion index (Kst) was 139 mbar/s, corresponding to the dust explosion grade St 1.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.305-316
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• 2022

Hydrogen energy is emerging as an alternative to the depletion of fossil fuels and environmental problems, and the use of hydrogen vehicles is increasing in the automobile industry as well. However, since hydrogen has a wide flammability limit of 4 to 75%, there is a high concern about safety in case of a hydrogen car accident. In particular, in semi-enclosed spaces such as tunnels and underground parking lots, a fire or explosion accompanied by hydrogen leakage is highly likely to cause a major accident. Therefore, it is necessary to review hydrogen safety through analysis of flammability areas caused by hydrogen leakage. Therefore, in this study, the effect of the air velocity in the tunnel on the flammability area was investigated by analyzing the hydrogen concentration according to the hydrogen leakage conditions of hydrogen vehicles and the air velocity in the tunnel in a road tunnel with standard section. Hydrogen leakage conditions were set as one tank leaking and three tanks leaking through the TPRD at the same time and a condition in which a large crack occurred and leaked. And the air velocity in the tunnel were considered 0, 1, 2.5, and 4.0 m/s. As a result of the analysis of the flammability area, it is shown that when the air velocity of 1 m/s or more exists, it is reduced by up to 25% compared to the case of air velocity of 0 m/s. But there is little effect of reducing the flammability area according to the increase of the wind speed. In particular, when a large crack occurs and completely leaks in about 2.5 seconds, the flammability area slightly increases as the air velocity increases. It was found that in the case of downward ejection, hydrogen gas remains under the vehicle for a considerably long time.