Experimental and simulation studies on the influence of carbon monoxide on explosion characteristics of methane

In underground coal mining, methane explosions often can cause tremendous disasters. In the meantime, carbon monoxide (CO), generated during the process of coal oxidation, may appear in the air. Therefore, the explosion characteristics of the mixture of CH₄ and CO must be investigated to prevent gas explosion accidents in coal mines. We conducted experiments by using a 20-L nearly spherical gas explosion testing device. The software FLACS was used to simulate the explosion of the mixture of CH₄ and CO at various mixing concentrations, and the simulation results corresponded to experimental results. With the increase of CO concentration, both upper and lower explosive limits of CH₄ decreased. On the whole, the explosion characteristic parameters of CH₄ and the mixture are similar. When CH₄ concentration was below the stoichiometric concentration, the addition of CO could promote the intensity of gas explosion; oppositely, excessive CO would inhibit the gas explosion reaction. The inhibitory effects become more significant as the concentration of CH₄ increases.     

两种铈锆-氧化铝载体对载Pd催化剂性能的影响

分别以柠檬酸溶胶法和浸渍法制备了两种三氧化二铝负载的铈锆复合氧化物(CZ/A),考察了它们对载Pd三效催化剂性能的影响.发现柠檬酸法样品催化氧化CO和C3H6的活性大大优于浸渍法样品,NO的转化活性二者接近.表征结果显示,在柠檬酸法样品中,CZ以紧密的片层状结构覆盖在氧化铝上,而在浸渍法样品中,CZ呈疏松的颗粒状,这就导致在柠檬酸法样品样品上CZ具有更大的分散度,近而具有更多的Pd-CZ活性位.而且,对于柠檬酸法样品,高温老化后铈锆晶相稳定,无晶相分离,比表面积下降较小,催化剂自身的氧化还原性能更好.这些都使其表现出了更好的催化活性,特别是氧化活性.     

The influence of inert gas on limiting experimental safe gap of fuel-air mixtures at various initial pressures

The Maximum Experimental Safe Gap (MESG) is an important criterion to assess the propagation of flames through small gaps. This safety-related parameter is used to classify the flammable gases and vapors in explosion groups, which are fundamental to constructional explosion protection. It is used both, for the safe design of flameproof encapsulated devices as well as for selecting flame arresters appropriate to the individual application. The MESG of a fuel is determined experimentally according to the standard ISO/IEC 80079-20-1:2017 at normal conditions (20 °C, 1.0 bar) with air as oxidizing gas. The aim of this work is to investigate the effect of inert gas addition on the MESG in order to assess the effectiveness of inertization in constructional explosion protection. The term limiting experimental safe gap (S_G) is used for the result of these measurements. The fuel-air mixtures (fuels: hydrogen, ethylene, propene, methane) used as representatives for the explosion groups in flame arrester testing were chosen and diluted with inert gas (nitrogen, carbon dioxide) before testing. The dependence of the limiting experimental safe gap on the total initial pressure, amount and nature of inert additive is discussed. The initial pressure was varied up to 2.0 bar to include increased pressure conditions used in flame arrester testing. Apart from the well-known reciprocal dependence on the initial pressure, the added inert gas results in an exponential increase of S_G. This effect depends on the inertizing potential of the gas and is therefore different with nitrogen and carbon dioxide. The ranking of the fuels is the same as with MESG. As a result, various mixtures of the same limiting experimental safe gap can now be chosen and tested with an individual flame arrester to prove the concept of a constant and device-related limiting safe gap. The work was funded by BG-RCI in Heidelberg (PTB grant number 37056).     

凹凸棒土复合催化剂的制备及对零价汞催化氧化性能的影响

以天然的凹凸棒土(ATP)为原料,通过溶胶凝胶法(Sol-gel)、水热法、离子液体熔盐法与不同金属化合物(Fe2O3,Ce O2,Fe VO4,Ce VO4)复合制备催化剂。结果表明,Sol-gel、离子液体熔盐法制得的催化剂对Hg0的催化氧化效果较好,尤以Ce化合物改性ATP催化效果更佳。     

The influence of impurities on the transportation safety of an anthropogenic CO2 pipeline

Transportation safety is a key aspect of carbon capture and storage (CCS), which is a major technology used to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Supercritical CO₂ pipelines have been certified as an optimised choice for CO₂ transportation. The results of this study show that the Peng–Robinson (PR) equation of state is recommended for analysis of the properties of supercritical CO₂. The influence of nonpolar and polar impurities on the two-phase region and the location of the sharp discontinuity in the density are found by analysing the ternary phase equilibrium and physical parameters using the PR equation of state. A transitional area between the supercritical phase and the dense phase, where the density changes abruptly, is defined as the quasi-critical region. This study describes the functional relation between the temperature and the pressure that defines the quasi-critical line by calculating the partial derivative equations and then determines the effect of impurities on the quasi-critical region of transported CO₂. Operational recommendations for pipeline transportation of flue CO₂ are developed using a pipeline operated by Sinopec as an example, demonstrating the influence of impurities in flue CO₂ on saturation pressure for control and prevention of fractures in CO₂ pipelines.     

Effects of environmental temperature on the thermal runaway of lithium-ion batteries during charging process

Lithium-ion batteries with relatively narrow operating temperature range have provoked concerns regarding the safety of LIBs. In this work, a series of experiments were conducted to explore the thermal runaway (TR) behaviors of charging batteries in a high/low temperature test chamber. The effects of charging rates (0.5 C, 1 C, 2 C, and 3 C), and ambient temperature (2 °C, 32 °C and 56 °C) are comprehensively investigated.The results indicate that the cell exhibited greater thermal hazard at the high charging rate and ambient temperature conditions. As the charging rate increased from 0.5 C to 3 C, more lithium intercalated in the anode prompt the TR triggered in advance, the TR onset temperature decreased from 297.5 °C to 264.7 °C. In addition, the charging time decreased with the elevated ambient temperature, resulting in a relatively higher TR onset temperature and lower maximum temperature, and the average TR critical time declined by 115–143 s. Finally, the TR required less heat accumulation with increasing of charging rate and ambient temperature, and the heat generation of side reaction played a substantial role that accounted for approximately 54%∼63%. These results provide an insight into the charging cell thermal runaway behaviors in complex operation environments and deliver valuable guidance for improving the safety of cell operation.     

温度对煤体坚固性系数的影响试验

为了研究煤体坚固性系数(f)随温度变化的规律,对f的测量试验装置进行了改进,然后在温度为-20-60℃时测定了若干组贵州煤样的f,并对温度为0～60℃时的数据进行了分析.结果表明,无论是突出还是非突出煤体的f均随温度升高而变小,随温度降低而增大,且呈线性关系;非突出煤样的f随温度变化的幅度往往大于突出煤样.研究表明,尽管f受温度影响较小,但当f接近现行的突出指标临界值0.5时,须根据井下煤层的环境温度测定其对应的f,才可将此时的f作为判断突出危险性的可信参数,否则容易误判.     

The influence of melt composition,liquidus temperature and solidus temperature on vapour explosions in melt droplet impingement experiments

For the investigation of vapour explosions, droplet impingement experiments were performed with the binary system Pb–Sn and the pseudo-binary system PbS–Cu₂S. The experiments were performed with a melt at 600 °C (Pb–Sn) or 700 °C (PbS–Cu₂S) and a water bath at ambient temperature and pressure. A hydrophone and a high-speed camera were used to study the interaction and from this data, the explosion probability and intensity were determined.The explosion probability had a single minimum around 70 wt% Sn, close to the eutectic composition. Moreover, the explosion probability increased approximately linearly with changing composition towards the pure melts, and was similar for pure tin and pure lead. On the other hand, the explosion intensity was comparable for tin and the eutectic alloy while clearly lower for lead. Almost all intermediate alloys had a reduced explosion intensity.Based on the variation in composition, the effects of the liquidus or solidus temperature and the liquidus-solidus gap on the explosion behaviour were also investigated. The explosion probability in both systems increased with increasing liquidus temperature. Also, the maximum explosion intensity in the Pb–Sn system increased with increasing liquidus temperature. Both could be related to easier triggering due to (partial) solidification. On the other hand, the explosion intensity was found to decrease with increasing gap between liquidus and solidus temperature, as was also found in literature. No significant trends for the explosion intensity were found for experiments with PbS–Cu₂S.     

温度及特征尺度对污泥表观干燥动力学的影响研究

从污泥表观干燥动力学人手来研究污泥干燥并进行数值模拟,根据在自制实验台上测得的圆柱污泥的干燥失重曲线,采用等温热分析动力学的基本原理,得出了污泥干燥失水率与时间的关系式,这一关系式说明污泥干燥时间与包含失水率的多项式呈线性关系,其斜率作为研究污泥表观动力学的重要参数之一,与干燥温度及污泥特征尺度有关.根据实验结果拟合出描述斜率与干燥温度及污泥直径3者关系的表达式,验证实验表明,拟合斜率值与实验值接近.拟合斜率值可估计污泥干燥所需时间,这是一种定量描述污泥干燥速率的方法,对进一步研究污泥表观干燥动力学有重要意义.     

Research on the critical temperature of thermal decomposition for large cartridge emulsion explosives

Emulsion explosives are one type of main industrial explosives. The emergence of the large cartridge emulsion explosives has brought new security incidents. The differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and the accelerating rate calorimeter (ARC) were selected for the preliminary investigation of the thermal stability of emulsion explosives. The results showed that the initial thermal decomposition temperatures were in the range of 232–239 °C in nitrogen atmosphere (220–232 °C in oxygen atmosphere) in DSC measurements and 216 °C in ARC measurements. The slow cook-off experiments were carried out to investigate the critical temperature of the thermal decomposition (T_c) of the large cartridge emulsion explosives. The results indicated that the larger the diameter of the emulsion explosives, the smaller the T_c is. For the large cartridge emulsion explosives with diameter of 70 mm, the T_c was 170 °C at the heating rate of 3 °C h⁻¹. It is a dangerous temperature for the production of the large cartridge emulsion explosives and it should cause our attention.     

Research on the influence of foaming gas in compressed air/nitrogen foam on extinguishing the n-heptane tank fire

Tank fires threaten the lives of people and pollute the environment for their intense radiant heat, rapid fire spread and explosion hazard. Compressed air/nitrogen foam (CAF/CNF), a cleaner fire extinguishing technique used for the tank fire suppression because halogen-based agents were prohibited for environmental reasons. In this work, the influence of foaming gas in CAF/CNF on extinguishing the n-heptane tank fire was firstly investigated. Firstly, it was found that CNF spreads faster with rapid increase in foam thickness, mainly due to its better stability and less evaporation. Secondly, after foam was discharged, there existed a short increase of the combustion intensity, associated with three monotonous regions and two time delays in the whole extinguishing time. The two time delays were caused by Rayleigh–Taylor instability and flame sheet shift, respectively, and the shift distance was larger for CNF. Finally, the influential factors contributing to flame extinction were exhibited to be mainly related to the decrease in liquid burning rate and gas-phase Damkohler number. Among these factors, foam spreading rate and thickness dominated due to coupled chemical and physical extinguishing effects. Resulted from some competitive effects, CNF was slightly more efficient at extinguishing tank fires than CAF.     

The influence of the charge-to-mass ratio of the charged water mist on a methane explosion

To study the influence of the charge-to-mass ratio of a charged water mist on a methane explosion, the induction charging method was used to induce charge on a normal water mist; a mesh target method was employed to test the charge-to-mass ratio of its droplets. The propagation images, propagation average velocities, and overpressures of a methane explosion suppressed by charged water mist were analysed. The influence of the charge-to-mass ratio of the suppressant water mist on a methane explosion was studied. Results show that the explosion temperature, propagation average velocity, and peak overpressure deceased more obviously with charged water mist than ordinary water mist. With increasing charge-to-mass ratio, the suppression effect of the charged water mist underwent a significant increase. Under experimental conditions, compared with ordinary water mist, when the charge-to-mass ratio was 0.445 mC/kg and the mist flux was 4 L, the minimum flame propagation average velocity was 3.456 m/s, with a drop of 2.37 m/s (40.68%), and the peak overpressure of the methane explosion was 10.892 kPa, with a drop of 10.798 kPa (49.78%). The suppression effect is considered from the changes of the physico-chemical properties of the water mist as affected by the applied charge-to-mass ratio.     

SO2和H2O对Mn-Ce/TiO2催化剂低温SCR活性的影响

采用溶胶凝胶法制备Mn-Ce/TiO_2低温SCR催化剂并考察其活性,研究了SO_2和H_2O对Mn-Ce/TiO_2低温脱硝催化剂的影响,并运用XRD、BET、SEM和FT-IR对中毒前后的催化剂进行表征。结果表明,催化剂在无SO_2和H_2O条件下具有良好的脱硝性能,在140℃时NO_x去除率达到84%。但若向模拟烟气中加入SO_2和H_2O,则随其体积分数增大对催化剂活性产生明显抑制作用。当H_2O的体积分数为5%、SO_2为700×10-6时,反应4 h后,NO_x去除率降为53%。H_2O对催化剂的抑制作用随H_2O的除去而消除,H_2O主要通过与NO_x的竞争吸附来抑制催化剂的活性。低浓度的SO_2对催化剂活性影响较小,SO_2体积分数为100×10~(-6)时,稳定后NO_x去除率仍能维持在80%以上,但较高体积分数的SO_2引起的催化剂失活不可自行恢复。SO_2毒化作用主要是引起了硫酸铵盐覆盖催化剂的表面活性位,以及造成活性组分MnO_x的晶化,并破坏了MnO_x与TiO_2间的强相互作用。H_2O和SO_2共同存在时,H_2O可以弱化SO_2对催化剂的毒化作用,主要因为H_2O与SO_2的竞争吸附作用而使SO_2对催化剂活性的影响减弱。     

The influence of initial conditions on the propagation of smouldering fires in dust accumulations

A mathematical model is presented which allows one to treat the combined phenomena of heat, mass and species transfer by diffusion as they occur within smouldering fires in accumulations of dust or other solid bulk materials. The model was applied to predict self-ignition temperatures of five different dusts, where it could be shown that computed and experimental self-ignition temperatures coincide within an error margin of ±5%.

For smouldering fires, if initiated by either self-ignition or an ignition source, it could be shown that the temperature and the velocity at which the reaction front propagates both depend on the volume of the dust accumulation. In addition, the propagation velocity increases when the initial temperature of the dust accumulation is increased and decreases when the initial moisture content of the dust accumulation is increased.

Comparisons of the numerical model with experiments show that the smouldering propagation is mirrored qualitatively, while the accuracy of the computations strongly depends on the accuracy of the input parameters, namely on the apparent activation energy.     

Study on the preparation of novel FR-245/MCM-41 suppressant and its inhibition mechanism on oil shale deflagration flame

Oil shale development is of great significance because oil and gas resources are scarce. Research on the prevention of oil shale dust explosion is particularly important for guaranteeing the safe development and utilization of oil shale resources. In this work, the flame morphology and velocity of oil shale dust with and without MCM-41 or FR-245 were compared. Furthermore, the novel green FR-245/MCM-41 inhibitor was prepared by jet mill method and used in oil shale dust explosion for the first time. The best ratio of FR-245/MCM-41 for flame inhibition was obtained, which was 9: 1. The pyrolysis oxidation behavior of oil shale before and after adding FR-245/MCM-41 was analyzed and compared by FWO and KAS methods, respectively. The results showed that the activation energy calculated by FWO and KAS methods greatly increased after adding FR-245/MCM-41, which increased by 95.36% and 115.15% than that before adding inhibitor, respectively. Significantly, the activation energy is particularly high for two methods when α between 0.2 and 0.6, due to that MCM-41 and FR-245 coexisted to limit the oxidation of oil shale. For α between 0.7 and 0.9, the activation energy is still high because of the existence of MCM-41. Combining the oil dust flame propagation behavior with the characterization results before and after explosion, the physical-chemical synergy mechanism of oil dust flame propagation inhibition was revealed.     

企业生产活动对场地地下水环境质量的影响及分析

企业对所在场地地下水定期开展监测,能够及时发现异常,预防地下水污染。本文结合飞机制造企业生产活动及污染物排放特点,对场地地下水进行监测布点,并分析地下水可能的污染途径,发现良好的管理手段和环境特性能保证场地地下水环境质量,而企业生产活动直接影响着场地地下水环境质量。     

The influence of alcohol on pedestrians: A different approach to the effectiveness of the new traffic safety law

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the effects of the new traffic safety law on pedestrian mortality by exploring hazardous behaviors of pedestrians in terms of alcohol use and blood alcohol concentration (BAC).

Methods: A retrospective autopsy study was performed, covering a 7-year period (from 2006 to 2012), including cases of fatally injured pedestrians who died at the scene of the incident. Blood samples obtained from the femoral vein during autopsy were analyzed for BAC. The entire sample was divided into 2 groups. The first included cases from 2006 to 2009, at which time the old traffic safety law was in force, and the second included cases from 2010 to 2012, under the new traffic safety law.

Results: A total of 247 cases were examined, covering a 7-year period. The average age was 57.5 ± 19.7 years (median 61.0 years) with a significant male predominance of 147 men to 100 women. This predominance also applied to alcohol use (54 vs. 13). The results show a significant decrease in the total annual number of fatally injured pedestrians, starting from 2009, compared to previous years, reaching a low in 2010, one year after implementation of the new traffic safety law. In contrast, the proportion of alcohol-intoxicated pedestrians showed no significant difference in the years preceding and following the new traffic safety law, nor did the annual distribution of BAC or mean BAC before and after application of the new law.

Conclusion: The present study indicates that the new traffic safety law has been quite effective in reducing pedestrian mortality. However, alcohol consumption and intoxication in pedestrians remains a fairly important factor in motor vehicle accidents involving pedestrians, because the proportion of pedestrians positive for alcohol, the proportion of severely intoxicated pedestrians with BAC > 1 g/L, and annual mean BAC have remained unchanged.     

The influence of oxygen concentration on the composition of gaseous products occurring during the self-heating of coal and wood sawdust

This article deals with an assessment of the influence of oxygen concentration on the composition and amount of combustion products generated in the course of heating coal particles and wood sawdust at 150 °C. This was done both with normal air and at 15% oxygen in the air in an isothermal furnace. The generated gases were analyzed by a Fourier Transform infrared spectrometer. Results show that under both conditions, the same substances are formed: water, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and aliphatic hydrocarbons. However, the quantities changed. At 21% oxygen, the concentrations of carbon monoxide and methane were higher than at 15% oxygen both in coal and wood. The oxygen concentration was also found to affect the rates of release of CO and CO₂. The rate of release of CO was higher at 21% oxygen, but that of CO₂ was higher at 15%, indicating two different mechanisms. In all cases, the concentrations of these gases were higher for coal than for wood. The results have implications for the specification of safe conditions of storage of coal and wood substances and the selection of safety measures.     

Thinking,feeling and deciding: The influence of emotions on the decision making and performance of traders

We report on a qualitative investigation of the influence of emotions on the decision making of traders in four City of London investment banks, a setting where work has been predominantly theorized as dominated by rational analysis. We conclude that emotions and their regulation play a central role in traders' decision making. We find differences between high and low performing traders in how they engage with their intuitions, and that different strategies for emotion regulation have material consequences for trader behavior and performance. Traders deploying antecedent‐focused emotional regulation strategies achieve a performance advantage over those employing primarily response‐focused strategies. We argue that, in particular, response‐focused approaches incur a performance penalty, in part because of the reduced opportunity to combine analysis with the use of affective cues in making intuitive judgments. We discuss the implications for our understanding of emotion and decision making, and for traders' practice. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The influence of axle position and the use of accessories on the activity of upper limb muscles during manual wheelchair propulsion

Introduction. Wheelchair configuration is an important factor influencing the ergonomics of the user–device interface and, from a biomechanical point of view, small changes in chair setup may have a positive influence on the demand on the upper limbs during manual propulsion. This study aimed to investigate the influence of the position of the rear wheels’ axle and the use of accessories on the activity of upper limb muscles during manual wheelchair propulsion. Methods. Electromyography signals of the biceps, triceps, anterior deltoids and pectoralis major were collected for 11 able-bodied subjects in a wheelchair propulsion protocol with four different wheelchair configurations (differing in axle position and the use of accessories) on a straightforward sprint and a slalom course. Results. With accessories, moving the axle forward led to a decrease in the activity of all muscles in both the straightforward sprint (significant differences in triceps, anterior deltoids and biceps) and the slalom course (significant difference in anterior deltoids and biceps). However, when propelling the chair without accessories, no difference was found related to axle position. Conclusion. Changes in wheelchair configuration can influence the ergonomics of manual wheelchair propulsion. Reducing the biomechanical loads may benefit users’ mobility, independence and social participation.