Combustion products generated by hetero-organic fuels on four different fire test scales

The scaling of results from combustion experiments with four organic substances containing heteroatoms, carried out on four different scales, is discussed. The scales ranged from the micro-scale, using about 2×10−3 kg of the substances, to large scale using about 50 kg of the substances. The content of O2, CO, CO2, NOx, HCl, HCN and SO2 in the combustion gases were determined with special attention to the survival fractions of the tested substances and the amount of unburned hydrocarbons. The global equivalence ratio (GER) was used to describe the ventilation conditions during the experiments. The conditions were adjusted to range from under- to well-ventilated situations. It was found that the GER is not the only parameter that influences the production of combustion gases. Other parameters such as temperature and residence time also seem to be important in explaining the results. The experiments were performed as a part of the TOXFIRE project within the EC Environment programme.