Effect of Oxygen Concentration on CO and Smoke Produced by Flames.
Effect of Oxygen Concentration on CO and Smoke Produced
by Flames.
(9751 K)
Mulholland, G. W.; Janssens, M. L.; Yusa, S.; Twilley,
W. H.; Babrauskas, V.
International Association for Fire Safety Science. Fire
Safety Science. Proceedings. 3rd International
Symposium. July 8-12, 1991, Edinburgh, Scotland,
Elsevier Applied Science, New York, Cox, G.; Langford,
B., Editor(s)(s), 585-594 pp, 1991.
Keywords:
fire research; fire safety; fire science; carbon
monoxide; cone calorimeters; heat release rate; methane;
plastics; propane; smoke; wood; oxygen concentration
Abstract:
A modified cone calorimeter with an enclosure has been
developed for measuring the yield of combustion products
including CO and smoke under vitiated conditions. The
CO yields of methane, propane, PMMA, ABS, polyethylene,
and Douglas fir are found to increase by at least a
factor of two as the oxygen concentration is decreased
from 21% to 14%, while the smoke yields are found to be
insensitive to vitiation for the solid materials (less
than 30% change). Results for air vitiated separately by
nitrogen and by carbon dioxide suggest that the CO yield
for a given fuel in a free burn is mainly controlled by
the flame temperature. For ambient conditions, the CO
yields for the solid samples are about a factor of 2.3
smaller than the smoke yields for all the solid
materials studied.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899