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Air is a mixture of about 21 volume percent oxygen, and 79 volume percent inerts (nitrogen). Any mixture of methane and air will therefore lie on the straight line between pure methane and pure air – this is shown as the blue air-line. The upper and lower flammability limits of methane in air are located on this line, as shown.
The system can be flushed with an inert gas to reduce the concentration of oxygen so that when the flammable gas is admitted, an ignitable mixture cannot form. In NFPA 56, [1] this is known as purge-into-service. In combustion engineering terms, the admission of inert gas dilutes the oxygen below the limiting oxygen concentration.
In an oxygen system the presence of oxygen is implied, and in a sufficiently high partial pressure of oxygen, most materials can be considered fuel. Potential ignition sources are present in almost all oxygen systems, but fire hazards can be mitigated by controlling the risk factors associated with the oxygen, fuel, or heat, which can limit the ...
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 ...
For instance, to safely fill a new container or a pressure vessel with flammable gases, the atmosphere of normal air (containing 20.9 volume percent of oxygen) in the vessel would first be flushed (purged) with nitrogen or another non-flammable inert gas, thereby reducing the oxygen concentration inside the container. When the oxygen ...
The original mass of flammable material and the mass of the oxygen consumed (typically from the surrounding air) equals the mass of the flame products (ash, water, carbon dioxide, and other gases). Lavoisier used the experimental fact that some metals gained mass when they burned to support his ideas (because those chemical reactions capture ...
Pressurized aircraft cabins are typically maintained at 75 kPa, the pressure found at 2,500 m (8,200 ft) altitude, resulting in an oxygen partial pressure of about 16 kPa, which is the same as a 15% oxygen concentration in a hypoxic-air application at sea-level pressure. However, passengers are sedentary and crew members have immediate access ...
The flammability limits of the gas define those proportions, i.e. the ignitable range. In combustion engineering terms, the admission of inert gas can be said to dilute the oxygen below the limiting oxygen concentration. Inerting differs from purging. Purging, by definition, ensures that an ignitable mixture never forms. Inerting makes an ...