Combustion Products from Ventilation Controlled Fires: Toxicity Assessment and Modelling By Omar Abdulaziz O. Aljumaiah Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds Energy and Resources Research Institute School of Process, Environmental, and Materials Engineering January 2012 STATEMENT The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his own, except where work which has formed part of jointly-authored publications has been included. The contribution of the candidate and the other authors to this work has been explicitly indicated below. The candidate confirms that appropriate credit has been given within the thesis where reference has been made to the work of others. LIST OF PUBLICATIONS Peer reviewed articles in scientific journals and conferences’ proceedings: 1. Aljumaiah, O., G. E. Andrews, B. G. Mustafa, H. Al-qattan, V. Shah and H. N. Phylaktou,(2011a), Air Starved Wood Crib Compartment Fire Heat Release and Toxic Gas Yields, In Proceedings of the 10th International Symposium on Fire Safety Science, Maryland, USA, edited by Spearpoint, 2011, International Association for Fire Safety Science. 2. Aljumaiah, O., G. E. Andrews, A. Abdullahi, B. Mustafa and H. N. Phylaktou,(2010a), Wood Crib Fires under High Temperature Low Oxygen Conditions, In Proceedings of the Sixth International Seminar on Fire and Explosion Hazards, Leeds, edited by D. Bradley, G. Makhviladze and V. Molkov, 2011, Research Publishing Services, ISBN: 978-981-08-7724-8, DOI: 10.3850/978-981-08-7724-8_15-05 3. Aljumaiah, O., J. Jordan, G. E. Andrews and H. N. Phylaktou,(2008), The Development of a Technique for the Combustion of Wood in a High Temperature Low Oxygen Compartment, In Proceedings of the Saudi International Innovation Confrence, Leeds, U.K., ISBN: 978-0-9559241-2-5. I 4. Aljumaiah, O., G. E. Andrews, Alshammari, Burell, Cox and H. N. Phylaktou,(2010c), Toxic Emissions from Folded Cotton Towel Fires in a Low Ventilation Compartment, In Proceedings of the Proceedings of the Sixth International Seminar on Fire and Explosion Hazards, Leeds, edited by D. Bradley, G. Makhviladze and V. Molkov, 2011, Research Publishing Services, ISBN: 978-981-08-7724-8, DOI: 10.3850/978-981-08-7724-8_11-07 5. Aljumaiah, O., G. E. Andrews, Alqahtani, B. Husain, P. Singh and H. N. Phylaktou,(2010b), Air Starved Acrylic Curtain Fire Toxic Gases using an FTIR, In Proceedings of the Sixth International Seminar on Fire and Explosion Hazards, Leeds, edited by D. Bradley, G. Makhviladze and V. Molkov, 2011, Research Publishing Services, ISBN: 978-981-08-7724-8, DOI: 10.3850/978-981-08-7724- 8_11-08. 6. Aljumaiah, O., H. N. Phylaktou, G. E. Andrews, I. Heath and J. Ledger,(2010d), Ghosting Flames in a Low Ventilation Compartment with Kerosene Pool Fires, In Proceedings of the International Congress Combustion and Fire Dynamics, Santander, Spain, edited by J. Capote and D. Alvear, 2010, University De Cantabria, ISBN: 978-84-86116-23-1. 7. Aljumaiah, O., G. E. Andrews, H. N. Phylaktou and A. Jimenez (2011b). "Low Ventilation Pool Fires." Journal of Hazardous Materials. In press. Conference presentations and poster presentation: 1. Aljumaiah, O., G. E. Andrews, H. N. Phylaktou (2009) Co-Firing of Biomass Wood Pellets with Natural Gas, Energy Options for the Future, Society of Chemical Industry, Huddersfield. (1st Prize for the best potential commercial award for the presentation & Young Researcher of the Year from the Society of Chemical Industry) 2. Aljumaiah, O., G.E. Andrews, H. N. Phylaktou (2010) Electrical Cable Fires using the Cone Calorimeter for Toxic Gas Investigations, RE10, Fire Service College, Morton-in-marsh. II All the experimental work for the tests presented in the papers listed was carried by Omar Aljumaiah. In addition, the first draft, the final draft, the results calculations and analysis were all carried out by the candidate. The submission was also done by Omar, along with the approval of the final amendments pre-publication. The supervision of Professor Andrews and Dr. Phylaktou is gratefully acknowledged. Their contribution through the discussion meetings and proof readings is also acknowledged. The other authors listed in the publication were undergraduate or graduate (MSc) students who typically attended one test conducted by Omar Aljumaiah and wrote a project on the subject. They have not directly contributed to the published work done. Paper 1, forms major part of chapter 4 of this thesis. Papers, 2 & 3 form major parts of chapter 5. Paper 4 form a major part of chapter 6. Paper 5 form a major part of chapter 7. And finally papers 6 and 7 form a major part of chapter 8. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. The right of Omar Abdulaziz O. Aljumaiah to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. © 2011 The University of Leeds and Omar Abdulaziz O. Aljumaiah III ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author would like to thank several people, whom this work would not have been possible without their support. My first appreciations and gratitude goes to my advisors Professor Gordon Andrews, and Doctor Roth Phylaktou, for their mentoring, support, and knowledge transfer through the years. They taught me as an undergraduate, and continued to provide valuable advice and discussion during my research in my postgraduate years. My appreciation is beyond written script, and I will be grateful to my experience in Leeds for the rest of my life. A special thanks to Bob Boreham, the lab technician who has provided valuable help and expertise in the lab work, his presence in the lab throughout most of this work, was great help. Thank you Bob. The valuable advice on the FTIR data processing and handling by Dr. Hu Li from the Engine research group at the University of Leeds, and Mr. Dominic Duggan of Quantitech, is also acknowledged. Thank you for your valuable advice, help, and time. IV ABSTRACT Toxic smoke from fires is regularly identified as the leading cause of death in fire casualties. In most countries statistics suggest more than 70% of fire deaths are caused by either toxic smoke inhalation, or heat burns and toxic smoke inhalation. In most cases, fire victims are impaired from escape due to smoke irritation and poor visibility. The fire community is now recognising the need for further research into the sub-lethal toxicity, as in most cases fire victims are impaired by these sub-lethal effects from making a safe escape. However, despite the recognition of the importance of the fire toxicity problem, limited work is done on quantifying the different fire smoke products. The available information is incomplete, and in many cases misleading. This work, attempts to address the fire toxicity problem in depth. By using state of the art experimental techniques, a thorough investigation into toxic components of fire effluent is conducted. Using a specially designed reduced scale enclosure, and an FTIR sampling system, a series of experiments were conducted examining the toxic products of low ventilation compartment fires. As a first objective, a review was conducted into the current practice of fire toxicity assessment; it was found out, that in most cases, the previously developed models, overlook the irritancy and sub-lethal quantification by adopting the lethal end-point for assessment. A review on the work exposure limits, and its relation to fire was provided. In addition, this research included experimentally examining different types of fire fuels, relevant to residential and industrial fires. The fuels studied included wood cribs, cotton towels, acrylic curtains, and hydrocarbon pool fires. The fires were burnt at ventilation rates corresponding to 5, 11, 21, 37 ACH, which simulated conditions of a limited ventilation enclosures in modern buildings. Quantified yields of irritant species, such as Acrolein, Formaldehyde, Benzene, Acetic Acid, and Acetaldehyde, are reported on a scale never accomplished before. In addition, detailed assessment of the measured species in terms of lethality and irritancy was reported. The amount of information gained from the experimental work, expanded our current understanding on toxic fire effluent, and was published in a series of publications. Finally, the gained knowledge from the experimental work was then used in an attempt to propose a new methodology for toxic fire prediction in fire models. V TABLE OF CONTENT STATEMENT .......................................................................................................................................... 1 LIST OF PUBLICATIONS .......................................................................................................................... 1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................................................... 4 ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................. 5 TABLE OF CONTENT ............................................................................................................................... 6 LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................................10 LIST OF TABLES .....................................................................................................................................15