An insight of combustibility induced safety issues pertaining to ionic liquids

This study is a consolidated overview on explosion and fire safety issues pertaining to ionic liquids. Indeed safety performance of ionic liquids relating to physico-chemical hazards is very rarely investigated as it is often perceived as a non-existing issue due to the lack of traditional flashpoint for these liquids. It focuses on the experimental evaluation of the fire hazard of imidazolium, phosphonium and pyrrolidinium-based ionic liquids by use of the Fire Propagation Apparatus. It provides experimental data that can quantify the flammability of ionic liquids in all its aspects (ease of ignition, mass burning rate, heat release rate, fire-induced toxicity data...). A case study featuring a major failure in a process unit leading to a given fire scenario is also illustrated. This case study is examined in terms of fire induced toxicity by use of CFD modeling of fire product releases dispersion and using the concept of fractional effective concentration. K E Y W O R D S : Explosion hazard, flammability, ionic liquids, toxicity issues.