The
flammability limit (FL) data of ammonia at elevated
temperatures
and pressures are useful for fire prevention and control of the storage,
transportation, and bunkering process of a large amount of ammonia,
as well as for the detailed study of the reaction kinetics of ammonia-containing
alternative fuels. In this work, the FLs of ammonia were measured
in the temperature range from 298 to 423 K and in the pressure range
from 0.05 to 0.5 MPa based on the ASTM E918 and EN 1839 standards,
and the ammonia concentrations at the FLs were characterized using
the mole fraction and volume fraction, respectively. The FLs of ammonia
varied linearly with the temperature and logarithmically with the
pressure. The combined effect of the temperature and pressure expanded
the FLs of ammonia and increased the likelihood of an explosion. By
correlating the FLs of ammonia, the correlated results of ammonia
FLs varying with the temperature and pressure were obtained. The mean
absolute deviation between the fitted values and the experimental
values of ammonia at the lower FLs (LFLs) was 0.22%, while at the
upper FLs (UFLs) it was 0.37%. The influence of the temperature and
pressure on the ammonia FLs was explained by using the reaction kinetics
of ammonia combustion. The presence of OH radicals was crucial for
the LFLs in the ammonia/air mixture, followed by NH2 radicals. The UFLs in the ammonia/air mixture
were highly dependent on the change of NH2 radicals. The
formation of NH2 radicals primarily relied on the elementary
reaction NH3 + OH⇔NH2 + H2O at the lower and upper FLs. The peak value of the free radical
mole fraction gradually decreased with increasing experimental pressure.
The increase in pressure resulted in a significant increase in the
change rate of radical ROP, while the increase in temperature resulted
in a slight decrease in the rate of change.