Flame-retardancy and smoke suppression characteristics of bamboo impregnated with silicate-intercalated calcium aluminum hydrotalcates

Flame-retardant silicate-intercalated calcium aluminum hydrotalcites (CaAl-SiO3-LDHs) were synthesized to treat bamboo for retardancy, to overcome the bamboo’s flammability and reduce the production of toxic smoke during combustion. The microstructure, elemental composition, flame retardancy, and smoke suppression characteristics of the bamboo before and after the fire-retardant treatment with different pressure impregnation were studied using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), elemental analysis (EDX), and cone calorimetry. It was found that CaAl-SiO3-LDHs flame retardants can effectively fill and cover the cell wall surface and the cell cavity of bamboo without damaging the microstructure. As compared to the non-flame-retardant bamboo, the heat release rate (HRR) of the CaAl-SiO3-LDHs flame-retardant bamboo was significantly reduced, the total heat release (THR) decreased by 31.3%, the residue mass increased by 51.4%, the time to ignition (TTI) delay rate reached 77.8%, the mass loss rate (MLR) decreased, and the carbon formation improved. Additionally, as compared to the non-flame-retardant bamboo, the total smoke release (TSR) of the CaAl-SiO3-LDHs flame-retardant bamboo decreased by 38.9%, and the carbon monoxide yield (YCO) approached zero. Thus, the CaAl-SiO3-LDHs flame-retardant bamboo has excellent flame-retardancy and smoke suppression characteristics.

Materials for Safety and Security

This chapter deals with materials used in safety and security engineering. The most commonly used materials in this field include shielding materials, materials for protective suits, electrically insulating materials and materials for fire protection. The first part of the chapter describes the properties of materials used in the above applications. The second part of the chapter focuses on characteristics of materials that accurately describe their fire risk. The fire risk of a material is quantified by its resistance to ignition (determined generally by critical heat flux and ignition temperature) and by the impact of the fire on the environment. The impact of fire is usually determined by the heat release rate, toxicity of combustion products (primarily determined by carbon monoxide yield and for materials that contain nitrogen, also through the hydrogen cyanide yield) and the decrease of visibility in the area (depending on the geometry of the area and the smoke production rate).

Determination of Fire Risk of Selected Alcohols

The aim of the research was to determine the fire risk of selected flammable liquids (alcohols). Four alcohols, methanol, ethanol, propanol, and butanol, were chosen for the research. Flammable liquids were examined in a cone calorimeter at 0 and 5 kW.m−2 heat fluxes. Both, the cone calorimeter and test procedure, were in accordance with ISO 5660-1:2015. The fire risk was evaluated mainly on the basis of heat release rate, effective heat of combustion and carbon monoxide yield. Comparison of the achieved parameters of selected alcohols shows that the fire risk of the investigated alcohols increases with increasing the molar mass of alcohol and applied heat flow.

Mg–Fe–Al–O for advanced CO2to CO conversion: carbon monoxide yield vs. oxygen storage capacity

A detailed study of new oxygen carrier materials, Mg–Fe–Al–O, with various loadings of iron oxide (10–100 wt% Fe2O3) is carried out in order to investigate the relationship between material transformation, stability and CO yield from CO2conversion.

Analysis of Emissions from Selected Wood Charcoal Species Combustion

This study quantified selected emissions (carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides) that are produced during combustion of beech wood, birch wood and spruce wood charcoal in the combustion tube furnace. The maximum concentration of carbon monoxide and also the nitrogen oxides have been measured in the case of the spruce wood charcoal. The minimum concentration of carbon monoxide and also nitrogen oxides have been measured in the case of the beech wood charcoal. Although the difference between maximum emissions concentration of examined samples has been smooth. The comparison of obtained results with data published by previous studies can be made a suggestion, that the maximum concentrations of measured emissions are higher for wood than for charcoal. The nitrogen oxides yield per weight loss is higher for wood than for charcoal. On the other hand the carbon monoxide yield is higher for charcoal than for wood.

Research on the Capability and Application of Flame Retardant Cable

This paper, analyzes some parameters with the help of Cone Calorimeter (CONE) for the time to ignition, smoke extinction area, heat release rate, carbon monoxide yield and mass loss rate. The results show that the fire retardant agents affect KVV’s flame retardant property. Such as TTI ( time to ignition ) is prolonged to nearly two times, and the average HRR ( heat release rate ) reduces about 18% compared with the ordinary one and the maximum HRR down about 33%of its counterpart.

The Influence of Cigarette Designs and Smoking Regimes on Vapour Phase Yields

Cigarettes with similar design features but with either cellulose acetate or dual carbon filters were made at 1-mg and 13-mg “tar” levels, as determined under the ISO smoking procedure. Products were smoked under the ISO, Massachusetts and Canadian smoking regimes to provide per-cigarette and per-puff yields of twelve vapour phase (VP) smoke components. The yields generated at the lit end of the cigarette and the significant yield reductions caused by filter ventilation, selective (carbon) adsorption, tobacco rod ventilation and diffusion were estimated in a modelling approach. For a “1-mg tar” carbon-filtered product it was estimated that the VP generated at the lit end was reduced by 99.4% to a machine yield of 17 µg/cig under ISO smoking conditions. Under the Canadian regime with 100% vent blocking, the estimated total VP was lowered 20% by tobacco rod effects and 15% by carbon filter adsorption giving a machine yield of 3487 µg/cig. The carbon filter adsorbed less efficiently partly due to the artificially high smoke temperatures through the filter that would probably not be tolerated by human smokers. Under the Massachusetts regime with 50% vent blocking, conditions better associated with human smoking, the total VP was lowered 51% by filter ventilation, 22% by tobacco rod effects and 17% by carbon filter adsorption giving a machine yield of 659 µg/cig. Ventilation is used to achieve “tar”/nicotine/carbon monoxide yield ceilings at 10/1/10 mg based on the current ISO smoking method. If future regulations were to mandate further reductions in VP then this will only be selectively achieved by increasing filter or tobacco rod ventilation/porosity or by using selective adsorption. It is inevitable that manufacturers will need to add further ventilation into their product to comply with such regulations and this should be reflected in any smoking regime. Furthermore, regimes with 100% vent blocking, that do not produce data reflecting the significant reductions in VP yields, provided to the smoker by ventilation, are misleading and their results will not correlate with relevant biomarker data. When proposing a different smoking regime, it is essential to understand the generation and transfer of smoke within cigarettes and factors involved in the subsequent data interpretation as described in this work. For regulatory evaluation purposes, cigarette characterisation using a regime that removes ventilation, one of the main design tools, is more misleading than the current ISO regime or one with partial vent blocking.