| Abstract: | Metallic structured packings have found increasing use in the cryogenic distillation of air. An experimental program was performed to test the flammability of selected metal packings under simulated high oxygen concentration operating conditions. Aluminum flammability in gaseous oxygen has been shown to be very dependent upon argon dilution, and in the presence of liquid oxygen, strong energy releases have been observed. Brass packing exhibited an unexpectedly high relative flammability whereas copper has been found to be non-flammable in all tested oxygen purities. These findings suggest the use of copper structured packing in higher purity GOX/LOX regions of an air separation distillation column and aluminum structured packing in the remainder of the column. |
