Longtime Fire Engineering Adviser and FDIC Presenter Frank L. Fire Sr. Passes Away
Frank L. Fire Sr., a longtime adviser to Fire Engineering and FDIC instructor, passed away on May 30, 2020, after a brief illness.
Frank L. Fire
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JET FUEL
Commercial jet fuel is essentially kerosene that has been hydrotreated to improve its burning properties. Hydrotreatment is a process proprietary to the producer of the fuel utilizing a particular catalyst.
PROPANE
Propane is a flammable, colorless, odorless, tasteless, nontoxic hydrocarbon gas. It burns relatively cleanly and is an excellent fuel. Although propane is a flammable gas, it is usually shipped and stored as a liquid. An odorant is added so it can be detected if it leaks from its container. It has an ignition temperature of 8427F and explosive limits of 2.1 percent to 9.5 percent in air. The liquefied gas has a specific gravity of 0.531 and a molecular weight of 44. Its vapor density is 1.51
CHEMICAL DATA NOTEBOOK SERIES
With the October 1996 issue of Fire Engineering and a review of the chemical ethyl acetate, this series known as the Chemical Data Notebook came to an end. It began in the June 1986 issue with sulfuric acid, the world?s highest-volume chemical, and ended with ethyl acetate, a flammable liquid. I promised Tom Brennan, then the editor of Fire Engineering, a 10-year series covering 120 of the most common hazardous materials that, if accidentally released, would threaten our citizens, communities,
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CHEMICAL DATA NOTEBOOK SERIES #119: NITROBENZENE
Nitrobenzene is a highly toxic, combustible, fairly reactive, irritating, oxidizing, bright yellow crystalline solid or a yellow-to-brownish oily liquid with a bitter almond or shoe-paste odor. It is used to make drugs, dyes, explosives, leather dressings, metal polishes, paint solvents, rubber chemicals, shoe polishes, and a variety of other chemicals. Products of combustion may contain the nitrogen oxides (NOx). These gases are oxidizers and highly toxic.
CHEMICAL DATA NOTEBOOK SERIES #120: ETHYL ACETATE
A flammable, volatile, irritating, colorless liquid with a pleasant, fruity odor, ethyl acetate is used as a solvent for coatings, dopes, lacquers, shellacs, varnishes, and other products. It also has several other uses in industry.
CHEMICAL DATA NOTEBOOK SERIES #117: HEXANE
Hexane is a flammable, volatile, irritating, slightly toxic, clear, colorless liquid with an odor similar to gasoline. A pure substance that may be used as an ingredient in gasoline, it is used principally as a solvent, an extractant, and a medium in which chemical reactions are carried out to produce pharmaceuticals and polymers. It is also used in the manufacture of many materials such as adhesives, food additives, inks, lacquers, stains, and thermometers.
CHEMICAL DATA NOTEBOOK SERIES #116: BUTYRALDEHYDE
Butyraldehyde is a flammable, toxic, irritating, slightly corrosive, clear, colorless, volatile liquid with a pungent, sweet, and rancid odor. It is used in making drugs, dyes, paper, plastics, and rubber and as a raw material in the manufacture of many chemicals.
CHEMICAL DATA NOTEBOOK SERIES #115: DIISOPROPYL ETHER
Diisopropyl ether is a flammable, highly volatile, anesthetic, irritating, mildly toxic, clear, colorless liquid with a sweet, pungent, and slightly sharp but pleasant odor. Its major uses are as an extractant; a solvent for animal, vegetable, and mineral oils as well as resins and waxes; and as a raw material in the manufacture of rubber cements and paint and varnish removers.
CHEMICAL DATA NOTEBOOK SERIES #113: ALLYL CHLORIDE
Allyl chloride is a flammable, toxic, anesthetic, polymerizable, irritating, corrosive, colorless to straw-colored, volatile liquid with a garlic-like odor. It is used in the manufacture of insecticides, pharmaceuticals, resins, glycerine, allyl compounds, and other chemicals.
CHEMICAL DATA NOTEBOOK SERIES #112: METHYL MERCAPTAN
Methyl mercaptan is a flammable, toxic, reactive, irritating gas with a strong, disagreeable odor (similar to that of garlic or rotten cabbage) that is detectable at extremely low concentrations. Common uses of methyl mercaptan include in the manufacturing of additives for jet fuels, catalysts, dyes, fungicides, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, plastics, and other chemicals. The name methyl mercaptan is slowly being replaced by its proper chemical name methanethiol, although the U.S. Department of
CHEMICAL DATA NOTEBOOK SERIES #111: SILICON TETRACHLORIDE
Silicon tetrachloride is a water-reactive, toxic, corrosive, irritating, mobile, volatile, colorless to light yellow-colored fuming liquid with a sharp, pungent, suffocating odor. It is commonly used in the production of compounds such as ethyl silicate, high purity silica, various silicone compounds, fused silica glass, and other chemicals. It reacts vigorously with water, liberating heat, hydrogen chloride (which dissolves in the water to form hydrochloric acid), and siloxane.