Method and apparatus for halting the advancement of ethylene decomposition flame fronts

摘要

A flame arrestor is provided which can be connected with closely adjacent upstream and downstream portions of a pipeline. The gas flows through an array of narrow tubes immersed in the lower half of a normally liquid heat transfer fluid, thus normally maintaining the gas composition at ambient temperature. Even if a flame front enters either connector of the flame arrestor, the cooling effectively quenches the flame before the flame front can advance through the liquid-cooled narrow tubes to the other connector of the flame arrestor. The array of tubes is arranged as a return loop so that each tube can maintain structural integrity while expanding and contracting during rapid changes of temperature. Moreover, such return loop permits the connectors to be more readily attached to the upstream and downstream adjacent portions of the pipeline.