Applicability of a flame arrester to rich methane-based mixtures

Experimental data on the feasibility of a specific static flame arrester are provided in the present study. This type of arrester consists in a series of 2-mm i.d. diameter tubes arranged in a honeycomb type structure. This is aimed at creating a heat sink at the passage of the flame through the tubes. The data are aimed at demonstrating the pertinent use of this type of arrester for the safety in the process industry. Moreover, the experiments were conducted with mixtures of methane-ethane-ethylene more or less diluted in inert, namely, CO 2 and Ar mixed in equal proportions. The experimental results show that this device is appropriate for the quenching of a flame or even a detonation in some cases. However, in most cases, the system failed to quench the detonation after a DDT process has occurred. These unsuccessful operations of the device occurred for flames at a high velocity, namely for Re numbers of the order of 15000.