Prevention of thermal runaways in carbon beds
Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, 12 (6):
517--523 (November 1999)DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0950-4230(99)00025-X
Abstract
Carbon beds are increasingly used as a mode for suppression of volatile
organic vapors from process streams for environmental control. Many
incidents of spontaneous combustion of such beds have been reported.
This is primarily due to operation under conditions where heat gains
from oxidation of the adsorbed material on the high surface area
carbon out pace any heat losses via conductive or convective mechanisms.
In this paper we will discuss calorimetric methods for quantitation
of the oxidation heats as well as heat loss and balance calculations
to aid in developing safe operating discipline for successful use
of this valuable technology for pollution control.