Extinguishing of Oil and Gas Blowouts by High-pressure Jets of the Fire Extinguishing Aerosol

Abstract

Based on the results of the conducted analysis of existing methods effectiveness for extinguishing of oil and gas blowouts, a fundamentally new method for suppressing their combustion using high-pressure generators of fire extinguishing aerosol on a pasty aerosol-forming composition is proposed, which ensures the minimum extinguishing time and minimum costs compared to any other methods of extinguishing such fires. In a chamber with a volume of more than 70 m3, the minimum fire extinguishing concentration of the aerosol is determined. Based on the obtained value, the calculation of the minimum number of fire extinguishing aerosol generators required to extinguish fires of oil and gas wells having a large flow rate was carried out. A series of large-scale experiments on extinguishing a gas blowout with a flow rate of 1 million m3/day and an oil blowout with a flow rate of 1500 m3/day confirmed the efficiency of using paste-like aerosol-forming compositions to create installations for extinguishing oil and gas blowouts, as well as the correctness of the proposed method for calculating the number of fire extinguishing aerosol generators required for extinguishing. The supply of fire extinguishing aerosol along with the flow of burning oil or gas provides an extremely short blowout extinguishing time of 3–4 s from the moment the generators start to work.