2023 Spring Meeting and 19th Global Congress on Process Safety

(41aj) A Comprehensive Review of Fundamental Burning Velocity of Propylene at Variant T, P, and Oxygen Concentration

Author

Guibing Zhao - Presenter, Chilworth Technology, a DEKRA company
Propylene oxidation is an important chemical process that can make many different products. Although the gas mixture in normal operation is out of the flammability range, several process failure scenarios such as deviation of fuel/oxygen flow rate may cause the gas mixture in the reactor to enter the flammability range. In such circumstances, an usual mechanical protection layer for avoiding vessel rupture is explosion venting. One of the most important parameter needed for deflagration venting design is the fundamental burning velocity, according to NFPA 68. Since plant operation in a failure scenario may be in different temperature, pressure, and oxygen concentration, an unified fundamental burning velocity of propylene including all effects of temperature, pressure, and oxygen concentration is crucial.

This article performed a comprehensive review of fundamental burning velocity data of propylene at different temperature, pressure, and oxygen concentration. Through extensive non-linear least square regression analyses, an unified fundamental burning velocity of propylene is established to fit the effect of temperature, pressure, and oxygen concentration. Applying the established fundamental burning velocity of propylene to predict the deflagration venting size of a propylene oxidation process is performed.