The Effect of Time of Exposure to Elevated Temperatures on the Flammability Limits of Some Common Gaseous Fuels in Air

The flammability limits of methane, ethylene, propane and hydrogen were determined experimentally at elevated initial mixture temperatures up to 350°C at atmospheric pressure for upward flame propagation in a steel test tube apparatus. The existence of preignition reactions at these levels of temperatures that may influence the value of the flammability limits was also investigated. The fuel-air mixtures were exposed to elevated temperatures over different periods of time before spark ignition (up to 2 hours). It was shown that the flammability limits for methane widened approximately linearly with an increase in the initial mixture temperature over the entire range of temperatures tested and were not affected by the length of the exposure time to these temperatures before spark ignition. However, different behaviour was observed for the flammability limits of the other tested fuels — ethylene, propane and hydrogen. At higher temperatures the flammability limits narrowed and were very significantly affected by the exposure time. The longer was the exposure time of fuel-air mixtures to the elevated temperatures, the narrower were their flammability limits.