Report about Determination of Flash Point and Fire Point.

1. PetroleumPropertiesLab.
1
Name: Siraj Mohammed Raoof Jabar
Stage: 𝟐 𝒔𝒕
Class: 1
Group: C
Experiment No: 1
Date of experiment: 1/11/2017
Date of submitting: 8/11/2017
Experimentname: Determinationof Flashand Fire
Point.

2. PetroleumPropertiesLab.
2
Content
 Introduction
 Objective
 Apparatus and Material
 Procedure
 Result and Calculation
 Observation
 Discussion
 Work sheet
 Reference

3. PetroleumPropertiesLab.
3
Introduction
Flash Point:
Flash point of petroleum fractions is the lowest
temperature at which vapors arising from the oil will
ignite, i.e,flash, when exposed to a spark or flame
under specific conditions. Therefore, the flash point of
fuel indicates the maximum temperature that it can be
stored without serious fire hazard. A simple relation
for estimation of flash point of hydrocarbon mixtures
from vapor pressure was proposed by the below
formula:
Tf = 231.2 – 40 log Pvap
Where: Pvsd
is the vapor pressure at 37.8°C
Tf : is the flash point in Kelvin
Fire Point:
Fire point of petroleum fraction is the lowest
temperature at which vapors arising from oil will
ignite, i.e., fire, when exposed to a spark or flame
under specific condition. Therefore, the fire point of a
fuel indicates the maximum temperature that it must
not arrival to it to prevent the combustion of the
petroleum fractions.

4. PetroleumPropertiesLab.
4
Objective
1. To determine flash point and fire point of an oil
product (Diesel) using manually method.
2. The flash point is used measure the tendency of
the materials to catch flames, class the material
according to a safety requirement and to obtain
an idea about presence of volatile and flammable
substances, while the fire point is used to
measure combustibility of the material.
Apparatus and Material
1. Heater
2. Stand and clamp
3. Sample of Diesel
4. Thermometer
5. Fire source
6. Beaker

5. PetroleumPropertiesLab.
5
Procedure
Firstly we cleaned our tools that we needed in this
experiment and then we put 75ml of diesel in beaker
then we put beaker on the heater and the
temperature start getting rise slowly then we introduce
fire over our beaker and we used thermometer to
measure temperature then we see the first flash point
was 71C, and second flash point was 74, and third
flash point was 76, then last time we introduced fire
and it get start burn so fire point was 78, and we did
same steps for diesel in second time and our result was
close to the first time so first flash point was 70, and second
flash point was 72, and third flash point was 75, and the fire
point was 78, then we compare both results and out average
result for flash point was 72.3 and for fire point was 78.
Result and Calculation
Sample Average Flash
point(°C)
Average Fire
point(°C)
Diesel 72.3°C 78°C

6. PetroleumPropertiesLab.
6
Observation
 First we measured diesel flash point and fire
point we did several time due to get more
accurate result.
 For store or transport our material safety.
Discussion
1. What is the flash point and the boiling point of
these materials?
Substance Flash point
Acetylene -18 °C
Gasoline −43 °C
Diesel Fuel 52 and 96 °C
Hydraulic40-wt
oil
180°C /356℉
Propane -104 °C (-
155°F)
Butane −60 °C
Citrol 78°C/145℉

7. PetroleumPropertiesLab.
7
2. Why do we do this experiment?
To know the flash point and fire point for petroleum
and petroleum product to gives indicate of light
compound and how much hazards the materials when
storing or transporting safely.
3. What are the factors affecting the flash point
and fire point?
a)Pressure: the flash point temperature increase
with increasing pressure and decreasing with
decreasing pressure.
b)Oxidant: the flash point of pure liquid or mixture
is greatly influenced by the type of oxidant
atmosphere (i.e. flash point of chemical in air
will be different than the flash point of the same
chemical in another oxidant like chlorine ).
c) Apparatus sheltered: should be sheltered from
the sunlight because the sunlight can rise the
temperature of the sample before we start the
heating and will increase the rate (or affect it as
a non-uniform one ) during the test. Then the
flash and fire point will be not exactly
determining its value because of the large rate
of increasing temperature.
d)Others: tester configuration, sample size
ignition source, temperature control, sample
homogeneity, drafts and operator.

8. PetroleumPropertiesLab.
8
4. How to improve the flash point of petroleum
products?
1. Separates light vehicles for a way Stripping tower
method separates light vehicles and improves the
flash point
2. Stripping is a physical separation process where
one or more components are removed from a liquid
stream by a vapor stream. In industrial applications
the liquid and vapor streams can have co-current or
counter current flows. Stripping is usually carried out
in either a packed or tray column.
Figure (Stripping tower)

9. PetroleumPropertiesLab.
9
5. Different between flash and fire point?
Flash Point is defined as the lowest temperatures at
which the vapor of the test specimen starts to ignite
the specified conditions of the test but the other one.
Fire point is defined as the lowest temperature at
which the test specimen will sustain burning for five
seconds under the specified conditions of the test.
Flash Point Vs Fire Point
 Every flammable liquid has a vapor pressure that
increases with an increase in temperature.
 The lowest temperature at which there is enough
concentration of vapors in air to ignite the liquid is
called its flash point. However, vapors cease to burn if
the source of ignition is removed.
 Fire point is slightly higher temperature at which these
vapors continue to propagate and burn after removal of
source of ignition.
 In general fire point is taken to be 10 degrees higher
than flash point of flammable liquids.

10. PetroleumPropertiesLab.
10
What difference is between flash and fire point?
Flash Point: Is the lowest temperature at which a substance
vaporize into a gas, which can be ignited with the
introduction of an external source of fire.
Fire Point: Is the temperature at which the vapors of the
flammable liquid present in air continue to burn after removal
of source of ignition. If fire propagates for at least 5 second,
it is said to be the fire point of the liquid.

11. PetroleumPropertiesLab.
11
What is the difference between open cup and
closed cup flash point?
Open Cup Flash Points
Measuring a flash point using an open cup method is, as the
name suggests, conducted in a vessel which is exposed to
the air outside. The temperature of the substance is
gradually raised and an ignition source is passed over the
top of it, until it reaches a point at which it “flashes” and
ignites.
The flash point here will vary according to the distance
between the substance and the ignition source – the height
of the source above the cup. The most commonly-used open
cup method is known as the Cleveland open cup (COC).
Closed Cup Flash Points
Again, as the name suggests, the flash point in the closed
cup method is conducted inside a closed vessel which is not
open to the outside atmosphere. The lid is sealed and the
ignition source is introduced into the vessel itself, allowing
for a closer approximation to real-life conditions (such as
those found inside a fuel tank).
Figuer1: Cleveland open cup (COC) Figure2: closed cup flash point (Pensky
Marten)

12. PetroleumPropertiesLab.
12
Reference
https://www.engineersedge.com/lubrication/flash_point_fire_
point.htm
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-significance-of-flash-
point-and-fire-point-measurement
https://durathermfluids.com/news/story/understanding-flash-
fire-and-autoignition-points/