Well, I've had my excitement allotment for the year.
At work I run and experimental rig that reacts pure methane and steam at extremely high temperatures and pressures, 850C and 1000 PSIG, to reform it into CO and hydrogen. For fellow nerds: Steam reforming Wiki.
So yesterday I was running the rig to get more kinetics data. Everything was full on. System at 1000 PSIG, reactor temp at 850C, furnace temp at 1100C. (thats 1560F and 2000F respectively for the non-metric-familiar) As I'm monitoring it, I noticed that the pressure control valve was slowly shutting, but the system pressure was decreasing. This is exactly the opposite of what is supposed to happen. The previous GCs I had taken showed the composition in the reactor to be about 40% methane, 30% steam and 30% pure hydrogen. I went over to check on the supply cylinder pressure, thinking that it might be going empty, when I heard a hiss that sounded distinctly like a gas leak. When I realized it was coming from the furnace, I already started to feel the adrenaline. Everything looked OK at first, but the leak sounded like it was at the bottom, so I knelt down to look at the outlet from the furnace.
What I saw there easily doubled my pulse instantly.
There was a blue jet of flame coming out of the bottom. And it was getting bigger.
At almost that same instant, the flammable gas/ CO/ sulfur alarms started going haywire. I cant really remember the order of the next several things that happened. My brain was screaming like someone who sees their imminent death, but somehow my body knew what to do.
Immediately I cut the power to all of the furnaces and pumps, the methane and water supply were cut off, and the nitrogen purge was opened all the way. This flushed the system with 100SLPM of inert Nitrogen, getting all of the flammables out as well as cooling the reactor tubes drastically. By the time I had a chance to look under the furnace again, the flame was gone, the reactor pipes were no longer glowing, and other than some carbon buildup in the insulation, everything looked fine.
During this, people from upstairs started responding to the alarms and I had to force myself to calm down and tell them that it was my rig that set off the alarms but everything is off now and the gases should be dissipating. We turned on the big hood in the next room to help clear the air, and everyone went back to their business. I was the only one who saw the flame.
Later, when my bosses came down from the other building to see what was up, I told them the whole story and they said I reacted perfectly for the situation. One of them also pointed out that "if you're not breaking something, your not doing research." At this point, they took over watching the rig during the shutdown and I called it an early day and came the fuck home.
I had texted my roommate after the initial excitement and he already had the bong packed for me when I got there. I then proceeded to smoke that plus a couple more and got so high that I couldnt sit up straight. I definitely needed some chemical induced relaxation after the day I had had. There was no way I would have been able to relax on my own.
Andy
At work I run and experimental rig that reacts pure methane and steam at extremely high temperatures and pressures, 850C and 1000 PSIG, to reform it into CO and hydrogen. For fellow nerds: Steam reforming Wiki.
So yesterday I was running the rig to get more kinetics data. Everything was full on. System at 1000 PSIG, reactor temp at 850C, furnace temp at 1100C. (thats 1560F and 2000F respectively for the non-metric-familiar) As I'm monitoring it, I noticed that the pressure control valve was slowly shutting, but the system pressure was decreasing. This is exactly the opposite of what is supposed to happen. The previous GCs I had taken showed the composition in the reactor to be about 40% methane, 30% steam and 30% pure hydrogen. I went over to check on the supply cylinder pressure, thinking that it might be going empty, when I heard a hiss that sounded distinctly like a gas leak. When I realized it was coming from the furnace, I already started to feel the adrenaline. Everything looked OK at first, but the leak sounded like it was at the bottom, so I knelt down to look at the outlet from the furnace.
What I saw there easily doubled my pulse instantly.
There was a blue jet of flame coming out of the bottom. And it was getting bigger.
At almost that same instant, the flammable gas/ CO/ sulfur alarms started going haywire. I cant really remember the order of the next several things that happened. My brain was screaming like someone who sees their imminent death, but somehow my body knew what to do.
Immediately I cut the power to all of the furnaces and pumps, the methane and water supply were cut off, and the nitrogen purge was opened all the way. This flushed the system with 100SLPM of inert Nitrogen, getting all of the flammables out as well as cooling the reactor tubes drastically. By the time I had a chance to look under the furnace again, the flame was gone, the reactor pipes were no longer glowing, and other than some carbon buildup in the insulation, everything looked fine.
During this, people from upstairs started responding to the alarms and I had to force myself to calm down and tell them that it was my rig that set off the alarms but everything is off now and the gases should be dissipating. We turned on the big hood in the next room to help clear the air, and everyone went back to their business. I was the only one who saw the flame.
Later, when my bosses came down from the other building to see what was up, I told them the whole story and they said I reacted perfectly for the situation. One of them also pointed out that "if you're not breaking something, your not doing research." At this point, they took over watching the rig during the shutdown and I called it an early day and came the fuck home.
I had texted my roommate after the initial excitement and he already had the bong packed for me when I got there. I then proceeded to smoke that plus a couple more and got so high that I couldnt sit up straight. I definitely needed some chemical induced relaxation after the day I had had. There was no way I would have been able to relax on my own.
Andy
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