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Dear experts, sorry for the disturbance. The design institute that designed the automatic fire extinguishing system for the raw coal silo in our company’s power plant specified a low-pressure carbon dioxide fire extinguishing system. Since carbon dioxide has to be purchased externally, the company’s management wants to replace this system with a nitrogen fire extinguishing system. I searched the Internet for a lot of information and found that low-pressure carbon dioxide fire suppression systems are currently used in the raw coal silos of power plants. GB50229 only states that carbon dioxide is the preferred choice, but it does not say that nitrogen cannot be used. According to information found online, the concept behind using a low-pressure carbon dioxide fire suppression system is based on the principle of inerting; that is, CO2 is used to reduce the reactivity of coal, creating an inert atmosphere. By maintaining a certain concentration of CO2, the oxygen concentration in the protected area is reduced, thereby decreasing the potential risk of fire in that area. CO2 is continuously released into the raw coal bin and pulverized coal bin; by maintaining a certain concentration of CO2, oxidation is suppressed and overheating is prevented, thereby keeping the CO concentration and temperature in these bins within specified limits. I would like to ask the experts: can this low-pressure carbon dioxide fire suppression system be replaced with a nitrogen fire suppression system? If it is possible, where can I find the relevant guidelines? If it can’t be changed, where can I find the relevant provisions? Please let me know, thank you.
Good topic. I hadn’t thought of that. In my opinion, N2 has a molecular weight of 28, which is the same as that of air; therefore it cannot provide effective oxygen exclusion. Moreover, N2 burns to form NOx at high temperatures – so how can fire be extinguished in such cases?
Thank you for your reply; I’ll check the relevant information again