OBJECTIVES

1. To find the flash point of petroleum products (diesel)

SUMMARY
Flash point is an important parameter for safety considerations especially during
production, processing, storage and transportation of volatile petroleum products and fuels. Flash
point is defined by the minimum or lowest temperature of liquid hydrocarbon that will form
vapour in the air that will ‘flash’ or briefly ignites into an open flame. Flash point is basically the
level of flammability indication for a liquid in which a low flash point is a higher fire hazard
material. The experiment objectives are to find the flash point of petroleum products (diesel) and
to compare the actual flash point with expected flash point of the product. Diesel is the product
that has been tested during the experiment using Pensky Marten Closed Cup Flash Point. It is a
combustible liquid that releases vapours which is potentially ignitable. As the temperature of the
liquid increases, the amount of vapours also increase in which at certain temperature which is at
the flash point, the vapour concentration becomes high enough so that it become ignitable. In this
experiment, the number of applications was 13 times to achieve the desired flash point which is
at 74.1 ⁰C at 13rd times of application.
INTRODUCTION

The flash point specification is one of the major safety data items specified in typical
Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS). Flash point of hydrocarbon compounds (or their mixtures)
is defined as the minimum temperature at which vapor pressure of the hydrocarbon is sufficient
to produce the vapor needed to ignite the hydrocarbon with the air at the presence of an external
source, i.e., spark or flame. Flash point is an important parameter for safety considerations
especially during production, processing, storage and transportation of volatile petroleum
products and fuels. It indicates the fire and explosion potential of a fuel. A low flash point fuel is
a higher fire hazard material. Flash point should not be mistaken with other properties related to
volatility such as flammability limit, auto ignition temperature, fire point and vapor pressure.
There are two main classes of techniques used to determine flash points of liquids: closed
cup and open cup. The closed cup apparatus implies that the cup into which the liquid is placed
is closed until the ignition source introduced and thus no vapor can escape. Meanwhile, the open
cup apparatus means that the cup is open to the air and the vapors can escape in the surrounding
environment away from the flash point apparatus. Therefore, the closed cup flash point of a
substance is generally lower than the open cup flash point often by several degrees. Thus, this
experiment will be conducted using ISL FP170 5G which using the Pensky Martens Closed Cup
Flash Point technique.
In the Pensky-Marten’s closed cup flash point test, a brass test cup is filled with a
testspecimen and fitted with a cover. The sample is heated and stirred at specified ratesdepending
on what it is that's being tested. An ignition source is directed into the cup atregular intervals
with simultaneous interruption of stirring until a flash that spreadsthroughout the inside of the
cup is seen. The corresponding temperature is its flash point.Pensky-Martens closed cup is sealed
with a lid through which the ignition source canbe introduced periodically. The vapour above the
liquid is assumed to be in reasonableequilibrium with the liquid. Closed cup testers give lower
values for the flash point and are a better approximation to the temperature at which the
vapourpressure reaches the Lower Flammable Limit (LFL).
DATA & RESULT
Expected Flash Point for Diesel: 80 ⁰C
Application Flash point (0C)
1 62.0
2 63.0
3 64.0
4 65.0
5 66.0
6 67.0
7 68.0
8 69.0
9 70.0
10 71.0
11 72.0
12 73.0
13 74.0
14 ( Flash point) 74.1

Table 1: The flash point (0C) of the diesel and the number of application of igniter.
Flash point
68

67

66

65

64

63

62

61

60

59
1 2 3 4 5 6 Application

Figure 1: Graph Flash Point (⁰C) versus number of application.

The determination of flash point for petroleum products experiment objectives are to find
the flash point of petroleum products (diesel) and to compare the actual flash point with expected
flash point of the product. Diesel is the product that has been tested during the experiment by
using the equipment called ISL FP170 5G Analyzer in automatic resolution mode which is by
conducting in Pensky Martens Closed Cup Flash Point of petroleum products.Flash point is
defined by the minimum or lowest temperature of liquid hydrocarbon that will form vapour in
the air that will ‘flash’ or briefly ignites into an open flame. Flash point is basically the level of
flammability indication for a liquid. In which when the vapor pressure is above the flash point
value, the liquid can produce enough and sufficient vapour for complete combustion with the
presence of air.
Based upon Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS), it is found that the value of flash point
is more than 60 ⁰C (Of & Substance, n.d.), while for kerosene and petrol were 38°C
(ScienceLab.com, 2013) and more than -40 °C respectively (BP, 2012).As diesel is being used in
this experiment, the expected flash point of diesel is 80 ⁰C. A graph of Flash point (⁰C) versus
Number of application is constructed and it is found that as the number of application increase,
the flash point also increases. Diesel as it is a combustible liquid releases vapours that a
potentially ignitable. Hence, as the temperature of the liquid increases, the amount of vapours
also increase in which at certain temperature which is at the flash point, the vapour concentration
becomes high enough so that it become ignitable. Once the ignition occurs, the source of ignition
is removed and the vapor should stop burning.
Theoretically, flash points are being measured by heating a liquid by using specific
temperatures under controlled condition and then applying a flame. It is done in either an “open
cup” or using “closed cup” or using both which it is done to mimic the storage and workplace
conditions. The Pensky Marten Closed Cup Flash Point is an electrical heated cup with an
adjustable temperature ramp rate. A closed cup experiment process is similar with the container
for the sample which is with lid and the ignition source is introduced through the lid. In this
experiment, the number of applications was 13 times to achieve the desired flash point which is
at 74.1 ⁰C. At t 13rd times of application, it was found that the flash point was 80 ⁰C which has
reached before the value as expected flash point value.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

It can be concluded that the flash point of diesel is generally expected in the range of
60oC to 80°C whereby the actual flash point obtain from this experiment is 74.1.0ºC which it is
in range of expected result.Flash point (⁰C) versusNumber of application graph showed thatwhen
the number of application increase, the flash point also increases. In addition, diesel can be
considered as safer than another petroleum product since it has the highest value of flash point.
Petroleum products as an example with a flash point below 40ºC which are easily ignited on
exposure of flame which may cause burn. Therefore, special precautions are necessary for safe
handling. The flash point of flammable liquid also depends on the number of carbon atom where
the higher the number of carbon atom, the higher the flash point of the petroleum products. There
are several recommendations should be improved in this experiment. Any source of ignition
should be avoided when handling of flammable and combustible liquid. A proper storage is
required to store the flammable liquid away from ignition factors. Lastly, the original sampling
should be used to maintain the consistency of the result.
REFERENCES
Alqaheem, S. S., &Riazi, M. R. (2017). Flash Points of Hydrocarbons and Petroleum Products:
Prediction and Evaluation of Methods. Energy & Fuels, 31(4), 3578–3584.
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.6b02669
Open and Closed Cup Flash Point – What is the Difference? Petro Online. (2018). Retrieved
April 23, 2018, from https://www.petro-online.com/news/analytical-
instrumentation/11/breaking-news/open-and-closed-cup-flash-point-ndash-what-is-the-
difference/30654
Stanhope-Seta. (n.d.). Flash Point Testing explained | Pensky-Martens | Setaflash Small Scale |
Cleveland | Abel | Tag. Retrieved from http://www.stanhope-seta.co.uk/fp_docs/Flash-
Point-Testing-explained.pdf