Flash point and fire hazard analysis of three organic fuels and their aqueous solutions at low pressures

Summary To study the low pressure influence on the flash point and fire hazard of organic fuels and their aqueous solutions, a series of experiments has been conducted to measure the open-cup and closed-cup flash points of methanol, ethanol, and n -decane aqueous solutions including different mole fractions under different static pressures ranging from 35 to 101 kPa. The results show that both the pressure and fuel mole fraction have a nonlinear correlation with the flash point of the miscible fuel specimens like the correlation provided in this paper. For the partially miscible fuel specimens with a lower density than water, the water content has almost no influence on the flash point. The fire risks of the experimental results were analysed based on the standard GB50160-2008, which shows that the fire risk becomes higher at low pressures, and there is a critical pressure at the turning point of the change in fire classification. A method to achieve the critical low pressure of different fuels or aqueous solutions from the fire hazard classification is derived in this paper.