Experimental study on the inhibition of hydrogen deflagration by flame-retardant compounded ultrafine dry powder fire extinguishing media containing zinc hydroxystannate

Abstract

With the rapid development of global hydrogen energy industry, the issue of hydrogen energy safety has emerged, it is prone to cause a serious explosion accident once hydrogen leaks. Therefore, it is urgent to develop efficient suppression media to reduce the severity of hydrogen explosion accidents. In this paper, a new compounded powder composed of ordinary ultra-fine dry powder extinguishing agent (ODPEA) and zinc hydroxystannate (ZHS) is prepared. On the basis of material preparation, an experimental system of hydrogen explosive suppression is established to explore the inhibitory effect of ODPEA-ZHS. In terms of explosion overpressure, the results show that the peak overpressure suppression rates of ODPEA-ZHS are 90.12 %, 92.31 %, and 93.04 % for hydrogen release pressures of 2.0, 4.0, and 6.0 MPa, respectively. Besides, the flame front propagation velocity under the action of ODPEA-ZHS reaches a suppression rate of 40.55 %. Furthermore, the overpressure suppression efficiency of ODPEA-ZHS exceeds 90 % when ignites 1.0 m axially from leak port. Ultimately, the physicochemical synergistic inhibition mechanism of ODPEA-ZHS is revealed by combining material characterization and pyrolysis results. This study can provide effective countermeasures for accident prevention in hydrogen energy industry, and also contribute to the establishment of hydrogen energy safety standards and norms.