EFFECT OF LOW-TEMPERATURE ON THE RICH FLAMMABILITY LIMITS IN AIR OF HYDROGEN AND SOME FUEL MIXTURES CONTAINING HYDROGEN

The rich flammability limits in air of hydrogen at atmospheric pressure and for upward flame propagation were established consistently under isothermal initial conditions at low temperatures extending down to -60-degrees-C. Moreover, the lean limits were determined down to -100-degrees-C. The flammability limits of a range of binary combinations of hydrogen with methane, ethylene and propane were also established. It is shown that the rich flammability limits of hydrogen-ethylene mixtures deviate very significantly from the commonly used predictive technique of Le Chatelier's rule in a wide range of fuel composition. Considerable deviation was also observed for hydrogen-propane and hydrogen-methane mixtures containing relatively small concentrations of propane or methane. The extent of the relative deviation was found to be virtually independent of the initial temperature of the mixtures for the conditions considered.