Thin layer boilover of pure or multicomponent fuels

In situ burning of fuels spilled on water is of interest as a means for cleaning up these spills. Results of small-scale experiments that investigate the combustion of this layers of fuel on water are reported. They allow to analyze the events that take place in this complex combustion process, which can lead to the occurrence of explosive burning, normally referred to as boilover. The work concerns primarily the influence of the initial fuel layer thickness, pool diameter and fuel boiling point, on the burning rate, time to the start of boilover, burned mass ratio, boilover intensity and temperature history of fuel and water. The temperature measurements show that the phenomenon may be due to boiling nucleation near the fuel/water interface, in sublayer water that has been superheated. A simple heat transfer analysis of the fuel and water heating provides information about the characteristics of boilover. Thicker fuel and superheated water layers result in a stronger and faster ejection of the fuel from the pan toward the flame, and consequently in a more explosive and hazardous boilover event.