FTIR Investigations Of Toxic Gases In Air Starved Enclosed Fires

Andrews, GE; Daham, Basil; Mmolawa, M.; Boulter, S.; Mitchell, J.; Burrell, G. A.; Ledger, J.; Gunamusa, W.; Boreham, R.; Phylaktou, Herodotos N.

doi:10.3801/iafss.fss.8-1035

Cited by 13 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…CO is the most common gas that kills people in fires, but this has no odour or irritant effect on people. The authors [6][7][8] have used COSHH 15 min exposure standards [9] as well as LC 50 to access fire toxicity. COSHH is the European standard on occupational exposure limits, which are statutory law in Europe, and are similar to the equivalent US limits.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…AEGL-2 is in agreement with this assessment of a much greater toxicity associated with acrolein than is given in LC 50 . This means that the gas concentrations that control death are quite different from those that impair escape [5][6][7]. The AEGL-2 escape impairment limits in Table 1 are in most cases similar to COSHH 15 , but for benzene and HCl there are large differences.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Air Starved Wood Crib Compartment Fire Heat Release and Toxic Gas Yields

Aljumaiah¹,

Andrews²,

Mustafa³

et al. 2011

Fire Safety Science - Proceedings of the 10th International Sym

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Pine wood crib fires (4.6 kg) were investigated in a 1.6 m 3 fire compartment with air ventilation between 3 and 40 air changes per hour (ACH). The cribs were 380 mm tall and 300 mm square. The fires rapidly self extinguished at 3ACH and struggled to continue to propagate at 5 ACH, where only 15 % of the initial crib mass was burnt. For 11, 21 and 37 ACH the cribs burned completely and the oxygen consumption HRR increased with ventilation. All three fully burned fires had rich equivalence ratios for most of the fire duration and associated high CO yields. Extremely toxic levels of CO, acrolein, formaldehyde and benzene were generated and the total toxic N on an LC 50 basis was over 30. The combustion efficiency was very low due to the very high CO and total hydrocarbon emissions and this led to a major difference in the HRR by mass loss and that by oxygen consumption. The results demonstrate the severe toxic conditions that occur in ventilation restricted fires with wood as the main fire load.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Air Starved Wood Crib Compartment Fire Heat Release and Toxic Gas Yields

Aljumaiah¹,

Andrews²,

Mustafa³

et al. 2011

Fire Safety Science - Proceedings of the 10th International Sym

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“…Only measurements of toxic gases that show "significant" concentrations for life safety based on the maximum exposure levels recommended by COSHH for individual combustion products [10,11] are reported in this work. Toxic yields of main toxic gases were assessed (see Figures 5 and 6) for better comparison of toxic species of wooden samples, untreated or treated in different parts with typical flame retardant, and finally to evaluate the overall toxicity [4] .…”

Section: Ftir Toxic Gas Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A 1.56 m 3 enclosed fire test facility, 1.4m x 0.92m x 1.22m, was used with separate entrained air inlet at floor level and fire product exit at ceiling level [10] . The enclosure had 25mm thick high temperature insulated walls attached to a steel backing wall that was air sealed.…”

Section: Experimental Techniquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal behavior and toxic emissions of flame retarded timber in fire enclosure tests

Tsatsoulas¹

2010

Risk Analysis VII

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Timber in different forms contributes as first and secondary ignited material to the initiation and spreading of fires in industrial buildings. The aim of this work is to investigate experimentally the fire behavior of wooden surfaces treated or not with flame retardants in a 1.57 m 3 fire enclosure linked to the FTIR analyzer in well ventilated conditions (75kg/h) that are usually encountered in industrial activities when large metal doors, ramps, ventilation openings, etc are open in order to serve the process of production. In order to simulate the "worst reasonable cases" of fire scenarios, wooden cribs have been constructed with complex geometry and configuration, and various quantities (grams) of ethanol were used as ignition sources. Seven (7) wooden crib fires were investigated using untreated pine wooden cribs or those treated at different percentages (%) of the total surface area with a water-based, flame retardant intumescent, suitable for internal surfaces. In most fully treated (100% F.R.) cases, even in a halftreated (50% F.R.) case, lower or almost equal to unity emissions were measured compared with the bare samples. This can be explained, in such cases, due to the fact that during the intumescent action there was either 'no ignition' of the samples (100% F.R.-treated cases), or a considerable ignition delay (50% F.R.-treated case). Excessive HCN and NOx occurred in 60% of untreated cases due to the considerable involvement of the flame retardant paint in flaming combustion, since it contains N in its chemical composition.It is proposed that the application of intumescent flame retardants on wooden surfaces located close to ignition sources in the most probable areas for a fire to break out, could be a safe and effective approach in reducing fire losses in industries.

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“…The acrolein emission signals were 'messy' showing a 'discontinuous' behavior, oscillated between 0-25 ppm (see Figure 10). The STEL limit for acrolein is reported as 0.3ppm while the 5 min Disaster Management and Human Health Risk 191 tenability limit is given as 2ppm [16] [17]. "Significant" peak values >> 0.3ppm are measured (15min exposure limit as specified in STEL) for all samples.…”

Section: 423mentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal behaviour and toxic emissions of various timbers in cone calorimeter tests

Tsatsoulas¹,

Phylaktou²,

Andrews³

2009

WIT Transactions on the Built Environment

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This work investigated the thermal behaviour and toxic emissions of timber products common in industrial buildings in Northern Greece. Eight species of wood typically employed in floors, ceilings, shelves, pallets, packing cases, scaffolding, furniture etc., were selected for experimental investigation. The samples were subjected to constant incident heat fluxes of 35, 50, 65 and 80 kWm -2 in a cone calorimeter linked to a FTIR analyzer. Test results presented in this paper, cover the following characteristics: (i) Time to ignition; (ii) Heat Release Rate (HRR); (iii) Time to reach peak HRR; (iv) Average (300s) HRR; (v) Mass Loss Rate; (vi) Effective heat of combustion (MJ/kg); (vii) Smoke production and toxic species emissions. In general, a relatively fast ignition was observed from 75 to 100s at 35 kW/m 2 , which dropped to 15s (mean value of all samples) at 80 kW/m 2 . An exception to this were some composite types of wood with a facing finishing layer, i.e., MDF or chipboard faced with melamine or maple, especially at 35 kW/m 2 , which demonstrated an increased ignition resistance (MDF and chipboard by a factor of 1.5 to 2). Among the various samples, 'no significant' differences were observed in terms of peak HRR at all irradiance levels. "Significant" acrolein peak values were measured for all samples. Samples with a facing layer (melamine in particular), which are known to have chemical flame retardation reached higher peak values of CO, HCN and NH 3 during combustion.

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FTIR Investigations Of Toxic Gases In Air Starved Enclosed Fires

Cited by 13 publications

References 16 publications

Air Starved Wood Crib Compartment Fire Heat Release and Toxic Gas Yields

Air Starved Wood Crib Compartment Fire Heat Release and Toxic Gas Yields

Thermal behavior and toxic emissions of flame retarded timber in fire enclosure tests

Thermal behaviour and toxic emissions of various timbers in cone calorimeter tests

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