Nonconductive liquids

The electrostatic behavior of intrinsically nonconductive substances, such as most pure thermoplastics and saturated hydrocarbons, is generally governed by chemical species regarded as trace contaminants. These are components that are not deliberately added and which may be present at less than detectable concentrations. Since charge separation occurs at interfaces, both the magnitude and polarity of charge transfer can be determined by contaminants that are surface active. This is particularly important for nonconductive liquids, where the electrostatic behavior can be governed by contaminants present at much less than 1 ppm (2-1.3). 

When a voltage is applied to a dielectric (insulator), a current passes that decays with time owing to various polarization mechanisms [ 133]. Conductivity is always time-dependent. This general time dependency affects conductivity measurement for nonconductive liquids, where the peak initial current is used to calculate conductivity. Test methods are given in 3-5.5 and... 

Nonohmic behavior is pronounced for nonconductive liquids in plastic tanks, whose dielectric walls further complicate the charge decay rate [206]. 

See 2-3.1. Typical laboratory conductivity meters have insufficient sensitivity to measure semiconductive and nonconductive liquids, in Appendix B, some tabulated conductivities appear as < suggesting that the instmment used was inappropriate. Some liquids listed as conductive might fall instead into the semiconductive category (e.g., cymene). Eor conductivities less than 100 pS/m especially, highly sensitive picoammeters are required to measure the small currents involved and great care is needed to avoid contamination of both the sample and the test cell. Several ASTM methods are available according to the conductivity range involved [143-146]. 

Hence if a laboratory measurement at 25°C yields a conductivity of 100 pS/m the same liquid at -10°C will have a conductivity of about 30 pS/m. The effects of low temperature combined with the elevated dielectric constants of many nonconductive chemicals support use of the 100 pS/m demarcation for nonconductive liquids (5-2.5) rather than the 50 pS/m demarcation used since the 1950s by the petroleum industry. For most hydrocarbons used as fuels, the dielectric constant is roughly 2 and a demarcation of 50 pS/m is adequate, provided the conductivity is determined at the lowest probable handling temperature. 

The hyperbolic relaxation equation (A-5-2.4.1 a) contains charge carrier mobility as a variable, which should be sensitive to oil viscosity. This is found to be the case for some viscous nonconductive liquids. These have much slower rates of charge dissipation equivalent to an Ohmic liquid whose conductivity is 0.02 pS/m (5-2.5.4). 

For many years the petroleum industry has defined nonconductive liquids as having conductivities less than 50 pS/m. A higher value of 100 pS/m is used here to address the higher dielectric constants of certain flammable chemicals in relation to petroleum products. For example the dielectric constant of ethyl ether is 4.6 versus 2.3 for benzene from Eq. (2-3.2), ethyl ether therefore has the same relaxation time at a conductivity of 100 pS/m as benzene at a conductivity of 50 pS/m. It is the relaxation time, not the conductivity alone, that determines the rate of loss of charge hence the same logic that makes 50 pS/m appropriate for identifying nonconductive hydrocarbons makes 100 pS/m appropriate for identifying nonconductive chemical products. 

The conductivity of nonconductive liquids can be increased by adding part-per-million (ppm) quantities of commercial antistatic additives or per-... 

Various theoretical and empirical models have been derived expressing either charge density or charging current in terms of flow characteristics such as pipe diameter d (m) and flow velocity v (m/s). Liquid dielectric and physical properties appear in more complex models. The application of theoretical models is often limited by the nonavailability or inaccuracy of parameters needed to solve the equations. Empirical models are adequate in most cases. For turbulent flow of nonconductive liquid through a given pipe under conditions where the residence time is long compared with the relaxation time, it is found that the volumetric charge density Qy attains a steady-state value which is directly proportional to flow velocity... 

Where this equation is applied to different nonconductive liquids in different pipes, the polarity of the generated charge may change unpredictably and the proportionality constant a may vary over about an order of magnitude depending on conditions. The charging current Iq is the product of... 

An important practical question is, what is the representative pipe diameter in loading circuits comprising different sizes of pipe This has a large effect on the values calculated for velocity and velocity-diameter product. As an example, static ignition of ester mist in a rail car (5-1.3.1) involved 1450 gpm through a 6-in. pipe (v = 5 m/s and vd = 0.76 mVs) followed by a short 4-in. dip pipe assembly (y = 11 m/s and vd = 1.15 mVs). Were nonconductive liquid flow rate restrictions applied to the semiconductive ester (time constant —0.01 s) involved in this fire, the flow rate based on the 4-in. pipe would be unacceptably large based either on a 7 m/s maximum velocity or a 0.80 mVs maximum vd product. However, based on the 6-in. pipe upstream the flow velocity is less than 7 m/s and also meets API s vd < 0.80 mVs criterion. 

A-5-3.5). Exceptionally large charge densities, up to about 5000/rC/m may be generated by viscous nonconductive liquids (5-2.5.4). 

Mesh strainers finer than 100 mesh/inch (<150 /rm) should be treated as microfilters. Coarser strainers up to 50 mesh/inch (300 /rm) may generate significant static when fouled with accumulated debris, so should be treated as microfilters except in cases where fouling is not expected or may be rapidly identified by either periodic inspection or monitored pressure drop. Clean strainers should nevertheless be placed as far upstream as practical for nonconductive liquid service. A theoretical model for the charging process in strainers (screens) is given in [119-120]. Viscous nonconductive liquids (5-2.5.4) may produce unusually high charging currents in strainers. 

Since velocity varies with the inverse square of pipe diameter d, an important consideration is the selection of pipe diameter. For any given velocity-diameter product, larger pipe diameters allow larger flow rates. Since occasional static ignitions in road tankers may occur at nr/ = 0.38 mVs, smaller values might be considered for nonconductive liquid transfer depending on risk tolerance. 

In some cases a conductive liquid contains a small quantity of lighter, immiscible nonconductive liquid contaminant. An example is an inorganic acid containing a small quantity of oil which forms a nonconductive skim layer ... 

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