Research on the danger of fires in oil tanks with sulfur

Hydrogen sulfide reacts with the corrosion product Fe2O3 in oil tanks to form ferrous sulfide. The reaction is highly exothermic and the heat release can cause incandescence of the ferrous sulfide. This pyrophoric oxidation can ignite flammable hydrocarbon in oil tanks. In this paper, the simulated production process of pyrophoric ferrous sulfide in oil tanks, the rate of the oxidation reaction and other influencing factors for oxidation of ferrous sulfide are studied. The possibility of the oil tank fire being caused by the pyrophoric oxidation of ferrous sulfide is then analyzed.