Experimental study of gas explosions in hydrogen sulfide-natural gas-air mixtures

Abstract

An experimental study of turbulent combustion of hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) and natural gas was performed to provide reference data for verification of CFD codes and direct comparison. Hydrogen sulfide is present in most crude oil sources, and the explosion behaviour of pure H 2 S and mixtures with natural gas is important to address. The explosion behaviour was studied in a four-meter-long square pipe. The first two meters of the pipe had obstacles while the rest was smooth. Pressure transducers were used to measure the combustion in the pipe. The pure H 2 S gave slightly lower explosion pressure than pure natural gas for lean-to-stoichiometric mixtures. The rich H 2 S gave higher pressure than natural gas. Mixtures of H 2 S and natural gas were also studied and pressure spikes were observed when 5% and 10% H 2 S were added to natural gas and also when 5% and 10% natural gas were added to H 2 S. The addition of 5% H 2 S to natural gas resulted in higher pressure than pure H 2 S and pure natural gas. The 5% mixture gave much faster combustion than pure natural gas under fuel rich conditions.