Following the occurrence of fires in chemically activated carbon in transit, a m d y has been made of the self-heating and ignition properties of this material.Thermal ignition theory has been applied to the results of laboratory scale sel/lignition experiments and has enabled realistic prediction of critical sizes of pile for self-heating to ignition at ordinary ambient temperatures. However, predictions of times to ignition at ordinary temperatures are much larger than found in practice.A distinction emerges between a long-term self heating process responsible for rhe observed ignition of the 'weathered' carbon and short-term processes which probably include the establishment of moisture equilibrium with the atmosphere and which are largely completed during the standard 'weathering' time of 8 days. The long-term process is not affected by this weathering but is dependent on the temperature of carbonisation and weathering at elevated temperatures (e.g. 1 0 0 "~) .Safe carriage of the carbon in economically worthwhile quantities is ensured by packing in polyethylene bags. These can sustain a small amount of damage with impunity.
The self heating characteristics of a series of activated carbon samples have been studied in relation to their chemical/physical properties. It appears that ease of self heating is related to the oxygen content of the carbon on a dry ash free basis, and from this it can be shown that all carbons manufactured by the steam activation process can be considered non‐hazardous for shipping purposes.
A simple test is described to differentiate between the potentially hazardous and non‐hazardous in chemically activated carbons and semi‐products.
The results of this investigation are fully supported by the shipping records over the past 40 years of European carbon manufacturers who are responsible for over 50% of activated carbon shipped world wide.
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