ISSN Online: 2377-424X
ISBN Print: 978-1-56700-474-8
ISBN Online: 978-1-56700-473-1
International Heat Transfer Conference 16
PRESCRIPTION FOR USE OF VAPOR EXPLOSION RETARDANT INTO SALT WATER
Abstract
Vapor explosion has been causing disasters in many industries such as metalwork and paper industries. One of the countermeasures is retardant additives into water to stabilize the vapor film which separates two liquids. A spontaneous vapor explosion of a molten tin jet at 700 °C was suppressed with only 0.03 wt% polyethylene glycol aqueous solution for molecular weight of 4×106 g/mol. This is because the solute deposited near the vapor-liquid interface due to the cloud-point phenomenon, that stabilizes vapor film and prevents the solution from mixing finely. Salts are known additives to act as vapor-explosion promoter. Increasing salt concentration requires denser PEG solution to suppress vapor explosion: e.g. 0.03 wt% PEG for water, while 0.07 wt% PEG for sea water and 3 wt% sodium chloride aqueous solution. These salt solutions were selected for practical
relevance in industrial disasters. A solid sphere quenching experiment indicates that this threshold concentration
of PEG can be determined by the quenching temperature of the solid sphere: the contact temperature of the solid
sphere with solution must be sufficiently low (e.g. spontaneous-bubble nucleation temperature of the solution) to
suppress the vapor explosion.