Effect of Co3O4 powder on the explosion characteristics and CO products of methane-air mixture

Rapid removing toxic CO for methane-air mixture explosions is essential in reducing casualties, but relevant research is rare. This paper proposed a novel approach for efficient CO removal and explosion suppression for methane-air mixture explosions using Co 3 O 4 powder. The effect of Co 3 O 4 powder on the explosion characteristics and basic parameters to quantify the CO removal performance have been studied, mainly including maximum explosion pressure (P m ), combustion time (t c ), flame propagation velocity, and average CO removal rate (R ave. ). Results indicated that explosion intensity and CO concentration decreased significantly with Co 3 O 4 powder, due to increased heat absorption capacity and the active site of CO catalytic oxidation . However, the average CO removal rate decreased as the Co 3 O 4 powder usage and CH 4 partial pressure increased, which could reduce the dispersion degree of the Co 3 O 4 dust cloud. The CO removal was achieved through the CH 4 catalytic combustion and CO catalytic oxidation, which could reduce the CO generation and oxidize the generated CO to harmless CO 2 , respectively. This work provides a novel routine to lessen the explosion hazards and has promising applications in emergency rescue.