(262m) Prediction of Flash Points: A Review and Practice on Ethanol-Blends

Flash point is one of the most important characteristics of flammable liquids such as fuels. It is needed to determine the conditions for safe handling and storage of fuels. According to the definition of American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), flash point is the lowest temperature at which the vapour over the liquid under testing can be ignited by an ignition source. Flash points can be measured on a tester designed based either an open cup or a closed cup method. However, the availability of flash point data are limited and experimental methods to measure flash point are time consuming. For estimations of flash points, modelling based prediction method could serve as an alternative solution.

Many models have been developed for predicting of both pure compounds and mixtures. It has been reported that flash points of pure compounds can be accurately predicted by extrapolating from their physical properties, such as normal boiling points, stoichiometric amount of oxygen required for combustion, vapour pressure and molecular weight etc. In this presentation, the implementation of various models such as Quantitative Structure-Property Relationship and Le Chatelierâ??s equation based predictive models will be discussed. Additionally, a simulation based on Le Chatelierâ??s equation to predict flash points of two ethanol-blends (ethanol-biodiesel, ethanol-octane) will be shared. This exercise is in line with the use of bio-ethanol as a renewable fuel with potential to mitigate the consumption of fossil fuels and achieve sustainable development.