Basic design principles of flame arrestors for decomposable gases

Flame Arrestors are safety relevant devices in chemical plants. If despite all the safety measures an explosion is initiated, they prevent damage, fatalities, and complete losses of production plants by hindering the explosion from propagating throughout the complete installation. Depending on the explosion propagation characteristics of the gas or gas mixture in question, the flame arrestors need to fulfil certain different operating requirements. In case of decomposable gases like acetylene and tetrafluoroethylene in some respect it might become necessary to violate the advice given in the standards concerning flame arrestor’s design. • Effectiveness of flame arrestor design preventing explosion propagation is investigated. • Industrial scale tetrafluoroethylene (TFE) decomposition tests are reported. • Impacts of flame arrestor design and guidance from standards are considered. • A hierarchy of accident prevention is discussed.