Research on inert gas active fire extinguishing technology for storage tank initial pool fire

Abstract Incipient pool fires in external floating roof storage tanks, typically originating in the annular gap between the tank wall and the floating disk, are notoriously difficult to extinguish accurately and effectively. Utilizing the diffusion capability and inerting properties of inert gases offers a promising solution for suppressing such fires. This article focuses on developing an active inert gas fire suppression technology for incipient tank pool fires. An experimental apparatus for active inert gas fire suppression on tank floating disks was independently developed. The fire extinguishing efficiency for ethanol tank incipient pool fires was investigated by varying the diameter of the carbon dioxide injection nozzles and the injection pressure. The results show that the active extinguishing device for ethanol storage tank incipient pool fire shows an excellent fire extinguishing effect. Under a constant nozzle diameter, as the injection pressure increases, the fire extinguishing time decreases, while the decay rates of both temperature and oxygen concentration accelerate. Furthermore, increasing the diameter of the injection nozzles also significantly enhances the fire extinguishing effect. The results of numerical simulation verified the validity of the experiment. Carbon dioxide cooling and oxygen dilution were identified as the primary flame extinguishing mechanisms.