Stack gas measurement of burning propane for an experimental fire fighting trainer

Technical Report · Sat Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1974

OSTI ID:7331556

Swiatosz, E

The Navy's fire fighting training facilities include burning diesel oil, which results in a multitude of chemicals and which presents pollution and health hazard problems. A possible solution is replacement of diesel fuel with a relatively clean burning gaseous fuel. To determine this feasibility, stack gas measurements were made from a 4 million Btu/hr gas burner facility under a fire fighting training environment. The concentrations of stack gases were sensitive to various test parameters, including air-fuel ratio (primary air), stack exhaust size, and draft inlet openings (secondary air). These concentrations were controllable and within acceptable safe limits for fighting training application. Carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and hydrocarbon emissions were measured. Propane and similar gaseous fuels can thus be safely used for fire fighting training. An air-fuel ratio between 4.0 and 12 should be used for nontoxic and realistic flames for fire fighting simulations. The stack exhaust and inlet draft openings should be a minimum of 10% of the flame area for adequate secondary air. Similar tests should be made using natural gas as an alternative to propane.

• Research Organization: Naval Training Equipment Center, Orlando, FL (USA)
• OSTI ID: 7331556
• Report Number(s): AD-781866; TN-44
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
025000* -- Petroleum-- Combustion
090110 -- Hydrocarbon Fuels-- Properties-- (1979-1989)
10 SYNTHETIC FUELS
ALKANES
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON MONOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COMBUSTION
HYDROCARBONS
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN OXIDES
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDATION
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PROPANE