Flammability limits, explosion pressures, and applicability of Le Chatelier's rule to binary alkane-nitrous oxide mixtures

This study investigates the flammability limits and explosion pressures of alkane alkane nitrous-oxide (N2O) mixtures and corresponding alkane alkane-O-2 mixtures at an initial pressure of 101.3 kPa and an initial temperature of approximately 20 degrees C. In addition, the present study assesses whether Le Chatelier's rule holds for binary alkane mixtures in N2O. In this study, methane (CH4), ethane (C2H6), propane (C3H8), n-butane (C4H10), and n-pentane (C5H12) were used as fuels. The results clearly indicated that the lower and upper flammability limits of binary alkane-N2O mixtures are smaller than those of the corresponding binary alkane-O-2 mixtures. Furthermore, Le Chatelier's formula successfully predicted the lower and upper flammability limits of binary alkane mixtures in N2O. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.