Ethylene oxide—oxygen flame

The composition and temperature profiles in low-pressure fuel-rich flames of ethylene oxide have been studied by Bradley et al. [65]. The major products were carbon monoxide, hydrogen, ethylene, methane, acetylene, butadiene and vinylacetylene, with traces of propene and propane. The unsaturated products were formed marginally later than the others, and ethane showed a maximum which coincided with the almost complete removal of fuel and oxygen. Acetylene and vinylacetylene continued to increase above the flame, although other products remained constant. 

The adiabatic flame temperature calculated from the stoichiometry was 1000 °K, while the measured value was 923 °K the difference being almost certainly due to heat losses from the 0.05 cm diameter thermocouple used. The residence time in the reaction zone under the conditions employed was approximately 3 x 10 sec which was long enoi h for appreciable self-decomposition to have taken place. For a brief discussion of the likely mechanism, see Sect. 4.2 

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In a quartz vessel an equimolar ethylene oxide- oxygen mixture gives rise to cool flames quite readily between about 260 and 380 °C [60]. The slow combustion has been studied in detail above and below the optimum conditions for cool flame formation, and the kinetics in the two regions are quite different [61]. At 420 °C the rate obeyed the law... 

Burden and Burgoyne [60] measured not only the cool flame and hot ignition limits for mixtures of ethylene oxide with air and oxygen, but also observed blue flames and self-decomposition flames. 

ETHYLENE FLUORIDE (75-37-6) Flammable gas (flammability limits 3.7-18% by volume in air). Violent reaction with strong oxidizers, barium, sodium, and potassium. Incompatible with powdered aluminum, liquid oxygen, potassium,. sodium. May form explosive compounds with divalent light metals and metallic azides. Attacks some metals in the presence of moisture. Undergoes thermal decomposition when exposed to flame or red-hot surfaces. Flow or agitation of substance may generate electrostatic charges due to low conductivity. 

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