Fires spontaneous combustion

CA 29, 2743 (1935) l A review devoted to firedamp coal dust explns and gob fires (spontaneous combustion of coal, usually in sections of mine from which most of the coal has been removed) and their prevention] 10b) W.Payman Sc R.V.Wheeler, Colliery Guardian 156, 201-4 252-5 (1938) TransInstMining Engrs 95, 13-47 (1938) CA 32, 3154 6463... 

According to the National Board of Fire Underwriters, activated carbons normally used for water treatment pose no dust explosion ha2ard and are not subject to spontaneous combustion when confined to bags, dmms, or storage bins (64). However, activated carbon bums when sufficient heat is appbed the ignition point varies between about 300 and 600°C (65). 

Certain materials which are generally considered to be stable at ordinary temperatures can inflame even in tlie absence of normal ignition sources. Such spontaneous combustion results from exotliermic autoxidation when the heat liberated exceeds that dissipated by the system. Materials prone to self-heating are listed in Table 6.7. In most cases, such fires involve relatively large, enclosed or thermally-insulated masses, and spontaneous combustion usually occurs after prolonged storage. 

The fuels consumed in the fire were treated wood, penta, and creosote (coal tars). Both are considered combustible liquids, with flash points above 160° F (CC). Vapor conditions within the headspaces of tanks can, however, reach explosive conditions, and the introduction of an ignition source resulted in spontaneous combustion. Under ideal conditions, creosote burns similar to crude oil, and in standard lab burn tests, has an average burn rate of 4 mm/min. There is no data on the burn rate of penta however, its vapors would have likely burned at much slower rates and a series of complex chemical transformations would have occurred. 

Thermal insulation (or lagging) on plant equipment may become soaked or impregnated witli oils and otlier flanuiuible liquids. When the lagging gets hot, spontaneous combustion can occur. Lagging fires are affected by oil laiks, insulation material, and temperature. Spontaneous combustion occurs only when tlie oil is nonvolatile, since volatile oil evaporates more easily, tlius delaying tlie... 

Liable to spontaneous combustion and catch fire during storage ... 

White phosphorus has an autoignition temperature only shghtly above ambient, dispersed it will soon heat itself to that by the slow oxidation responsible for its glow. Red is not spontaneously combustible, however if it does catch fire white will be produced, so that the fire, once extinguished, may spontaneously re-ignite. Both can produce phosphine, among other products, by slow reaction with water. Sealed containers of damp phosphorus (white is often stored under water) may pressurise with highly toxic, pyrophoric, gas mixtures [1]. 

Many fires are initiated as a result of auto-oxidation, referred to as spontaneous combustion. Some examples of auto-oxidation with a potential for spontaneous combustion include oils on a rag in a warm storage area, insulation on a steam pipe saturated with certain polymers, and filter aid saturated with certain polymers (cases have been recorded where 10-year-old filter aid residues were ignited when the land-filled material was bulldozed, allowing auto-oxidation and eventual autoignition). 

Beever, P.F., Self-heating and spontaneous combustion, in The SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering, 2nd edn (eds P.J. DiNenno et all), Section 2, National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, Massachusetts, 1995, p. 2-186. 

Substances liable to spontaneous combustion. Substances which are susceptible to spontaneous heating during transport substances which heat up in contact with the air and catch fire... 

Gob Fires in Coal Mines. Under this name are known spontaneous combustions in coal mines arising in waste (gob) piles. When the area had been partially or completely sealed off, the heat could distil combustible gases from residual coal in the vicinity and create an expl mixt if the available oxygen had nor been depleted at too fast a rate. An odor know as "gob stink sometimes served as a warning to workers of the existence of one of these Gres... 

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