Fires at Chemical Warehouses: A Cone Calorimeter Study on the BurningCharacteristics and Fire Effluent Composition of Selected Chemical Compounds

摘要

The cone calorimeter technique was employed to investigate the burningcharacteristics and composition of fire effluents of selected chemicals, including pesticides, compounds used in the chemical industry, a liquid solvent, and polymers. A controlled-atmosphere apparatus was utilized, allowing the ventilation conditions in the test chamber to be varied. The quantities measured to determine the burning properties were time to ignition, rate of heat release, mass of the sample, and its rate of change and the smoke production. Also, several derived quantities characterizing e.g. the combustion efficiency are presented. The composition of the fire effluents was determined by FTIR spectroscopy and GC/MS analysis. With some substances, the influence of extinction with a water spray was studied. A comprehensive survey of the correlations between several quantities is presented.