A Study of Thermal Oxidation and Spontaneous Combustion of Lubricating Oil Penetrated into the Heat Insulator

In an industrial complex of petroleum refineries and petrochemical factories, several accidents of fuming and fire from the heat insulator have been sometimes reported. One of the reasons why these accidents occur is caused by heat accumulation through exothermal oxidative reaction of the flammable material such as fuel oil, lubricating oil, etc. penetrated into the heat insulator. It started with oxidation of the flammable material in the heat insulator by surrounding atmosphere, and heat of reaction was accumulated with the heat insulator. As a result, the flammable material locally reached above its ignition point, and a combustion took place.

We have verified the risk of oxidative heat storage and spontaneous combustion using the lubricating oil as an example of flammable materials penetrated into heat insulator. This study was carried out with our unique experimental equipment in a laboratory. In this report, we would also introduce the behavior of the lubricating oil since a beginning of heat generation until ignition using a video review and the influence of the lubricating oil degradation during heat generation.

Keywords: spontaneous combustion, heat insulator, lubricating oil