Inhibition Effect of KHCO and KHPO on Ethylene Explosion.

The explosion risk of ethylene (CH) seriously hinders safe development of its production and processing. To reduce the harm caused by CH explosion, an experimental study was conducted to assess the explosion inhibition characteristics of KHCO and KHPO powders. The experiments were conducted based on the explosion overpressure and flame propagation of the 6.5% CH-air mixture in a 5 L semi-closed explosion duct. Both the physical and chemical inhibition characteristics of the inhibitors were mechanistically assessed. The results showed that the 6.5% CH explosion pressure ( ) decreases by increasing the concentration of KHCO or KHPO powder. The inhibition effect of KHCO powder on the CH system explosion pressure was better than that of the KHPO powder under similar concentration conditions. Both powders significantly affected the flame propagation of the CH explosion. Compared with KHPO powder, KHCO powder had a better inhibition effect on the flame propagation speed, but its ability to reduce the flame luminance was less than KHPO powder. Finally, the inhibition mechanism(s) of KHCO and KHPO powders were revealed based on the powders' thermal characteristics and gas-phase reaction.