Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

The CO/CO2, mol ratio has been used to estimate CO generation for hazard assessment in some room fire models. For better estimation of CO, more detailed usage of the CO/C02 ratio and more experimental data on their values seem required. CO/CO2, mol ratios in the literature, measured using small-scale apparatuses and in large-scale experiments, were reviewed. The ratios for different materials at different fire conditions were experimentally measured using an oxygen depletion OSU apparatus and cone calorimeter. CO/C02 mol ratios depended on fuel types and fire conditions, but for a type of fuel in one mode of combustion, the ratio was fairly stable. It is suggested to apply different CO/CO2, values to each fuel block for each stage of combustion in a fire modeling to estimate the CO generation.