Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

This paper describes fire and explosion hazards of some hydrocarbon-air mixtures. The minimum critical energy and explosion limits measurements are made on mixtures of air and butane, naphtha. JC5.I -pentene and I-hexene in the rectangle shock tube. The experiments are carried out at 1 atmosphere initial pressure and 60°C. The experimental results may be used to compare the relative risk sensitivity of these hydrocarbons. These results are also explained using molecular orbital theory of quantum chemistry Some parameters, including enthalpy of formation, ionization potential, energies of highest occupied molecular orbit (HOMO) and lowest unfilled molecular orbit (LUMO) are calculated using PM3 method Calculated results show clearly that the hazards of hydrocarbons can be conveniently assessed using this method.