Explosive VOC levels 1

[kingofools]

I am trying to reduce the gas comsumption of an oven by reducing the exhaust rate.
By reducing the exhaust rate I will reduce the amount of ambiant air drawn into the oven.

My problem is; the product ( a coating ) gives off Voc's
I want to know want is the lower explosion limit LEL of VOC's? in ppm.
I'm assuming that it is the same for all VOC'

 

[NeedAHoliday]

No the LEL's are not the same for all VOC's. For example Formaldehyde has a LEL of 7%vol in air while o-Xylene has a LEL of 1.9%vol in air. Both are volatile organic compounds. You need to know the composition of the the VOC's being emitted to determine it accurately or go to the supplier of the coating and ask them.

Cheers,

K.

 

[kingofools]

Thanks for that...
where did you get the info on LEL's for different compounds?
I've been looking all over the

http://WWW for

that.

 

[mbeychok]

.
kingofools:

Have you tried reading books at a good library? For example, the "Handbook of Chemistry and Physics" published by the CRC Press provides the upper and lower flammabilty limits for a good many chemicals. By the way, flammabilty and explosive limits are the same ... the two terms are synonymous.

I cannot understand the obsession with finding data on the Internet as opposed to reading the technical literature.

Milton Beychok
(Contact me at www.air-dispersion.com)
.

 

[Guidoo]

...but even on the web you could have found some:

web.umr.edu/~dludlow/classes/che258/INERTING.doc

 

[bonzoboy]

Another good source is US Bureau of Mines report number 680, Investigation of Fire and Explosion Accidents in the Chemical Industries.