Is an ethylene glycol aqueous solution flammable?
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Hello, dear sea friends! According to clauses 10.6.1 and 10.6.2 of GB50517-2010, pipelines transporting extremely hazardous and highly hazardous media as well as flammable media must undergo leakage tests. In the pipeline characteristic table, it indicates whether pipelines for 30wt% ethylene glycol aqueous solutions and 50wt% ethylene glycol aqueous solutions, which are considered flammable media, require leakage testing. Please give some guidance.
You can search on Baidu for 【Definition of pressure pipelines for alcoholic solutions and ethylene glycol solutions】 to take a look.
I’ve learned a bit about it; I’ve always had this question, and it was answered today.
I still don’t understand; please ask an expert to explain.
Whether it is flammable depends on the conditions. A regular lighter will definitely work fine. But welding poses a problem. In 2017, it was around 30-35% ethylene glycol. A section of the pipe wasn’t welded properly; this was discovered only after starting the circulation process. There was no other choice but to try using a lighter, and nothing happened. However, once welding began, a fire broke out, but it was extinguished quickly.
This is a flash fire, I guess; when the lighter was used, the vapor concentration wasn’t high enough to cause ignition. The heat generated by welding can cause ethylene glycol to evaporate, increasing the concentration of ethylene glycol vapor and creating conditions for flash ignition