1.

0 OBJECTIVE

 To find the flash point of petroleum products

 To compare the actual flash point with expected flash point

2.0 SUMMARY

The flash point is defined by definition as the lowest temperature at which a liquid produces
flammable vapors that can be ignited in air by a flame above its surface. During regular intervals,
a flame is added onto the liquid surface. If a flash occurs in the tube it is stated that the
temperature of the measured liquid has reached (or exceeded) the flash point. During this
experiment, the flash point tester had been used to measure the flash point of the drug, and the
material which is Diesel. Then the flash-point tool will measure and determine the increase in
vapor pressure in which this occurs, also known as the lowest flammability mark. From the
experiment, the result shows that a flame was produced at a temperature of 27.2 ° C when diesel
is heated. There is a long time after that before a flame that is at a temperature of 41 ° C appears.
The flame continues to appear until at 44 ° C, when a spark is formed. The flames and sparks
continue until the temperature, when the experiment ended, is 65 ° C. The flash point for diesel
which can be derived from the data is at 41 ° C. The lowest flash point among all petroleum
products from the predicted flash point is petrol followed by gasoline, kerosene and, lastly, lube
oil. The flash point obtained from the experiment is at 44 ° C, and the predicted flash point is 62
° C. Therefore, all of the experiment's goals had been accomplished from the findings and
discussion. Petroleum usually has a small flash-point at 40 ° C. Special precautions are therefore
important for the safe handling. The flash point of the flammable liquid also depends on the
number of carbon atoms which is the higher the carbon atom number, the higher the petroleum
products flash point.

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3.0 INTRODUCTION AND THEORY

Through definition, the flash point is defined as the lowest temperature at which a liquid
produces flammable vapors that can be ignited in air by a flame above the surface of it. A flame
is introduced to the liquid surface at regular intervals. If a flash occurs in the tube, the
temperature of the measured liquid is indicated to have reached (or exceeded) the flash point.
They can open or close the test vessel.[ CITATION Agn13 \l 1033 ]. Meanwhile the temperature at
which the combustion will be maintained is the fire point.

The flash and fire points help to assess the stability and fire resistance of the material.
The flash point may be used to test the requirements for the substance's transport and storage
temperature. The flash point can also be used to detect possible contamination of the products.
[ CITATION Ant20 \l 1033 ] The fire point is usually 20-30 ° C higher than the flash point for engine
oils. A fire point occurs when an ignition source is added and the heat produced is self-
sustaining, since it contains enough vapors to mix with air and burn even after the ignition source
has been removed. [CITATION Lju \l 1033 ]

The flash point tester had been used in this experiment to assess the product's flash point,
and the material is Diesel. A flash point tester is an instrument that calculates a sample's flash
point which is the point of temperature at which the sample vaporizes in the air to another
composition state that can be ignited. The flash-point device can then assess and calculate the
vapor pressure change in which this happens, also known as the lowest flammability limit.
Therefore, the concentration of the vapor can be measured by temperature. Two main types of
flash point analyzers are available: open cup flash point testers and closed cup flashpoint testers.
The open type is meant to simulate an open and natural world, whereas in laboratory testing a
closed model is more widely used. [ CITATION DiB18 \l 1033 ]

The idea to get the flash-point temperature in this realistic. That is after adding the fuel
(Diesel) to the appliance, we increase the fuel temperature and get the temperature of the flash
point as defined in the heating and cooling procedure. Then, get the flash average as the fuel's
flash point.

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4.0 RESULT AND DISCUSSON/TUTORIAL
Results

Estimated flashpoint for diesel: 62°C

Time, min Temperature, °C Flame Spark

0 27.2
0.12 27.2 
1.27 28
1.49 29
2.17 30
2.26 31
2.32 32
2.38 33
2.48 34
2.57 35
3.05 36
3.14 37
3.23 38
3.31 39
3.39 40
3.48 41 
3.56 42 
4.06 43 
4.16 44  
4.26 45  
4.37 46  
4.48 47  
4.59 48  
5.10 49  
5.24 50  
5.35 51  
5.47 52  
5.59 53  
6.10 54  
6.21 55  
6.33 56  
6.42 57  
6.54 58  
7.05 59  
7.15 60  
7.24 61  

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 7.35 62  
7.45 63  
7.55 64  
8.03 65  

Discussion

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 Based on the experiment, the objectives were to find the flash point of petroleum product,
compare the flash points of different petroleum products and to compare the actual flash point
with the expected flash point. Flash point is the lowest temperature at which, if given an ignition
source, the vapors ignite.

In the experiment, petroleum products used is only diesel. From the results when diesel is
being heated, a flame was produced at temperature of 27.2 °C. After that, there is a long time
before there is a flame appeared that is at temperature 41°C. The flame keeps on appearing until
at 44°C that is when there is a spark produced. The flames and sparks continue until the
temperature is 65 ° C, when the experiment had stopped. From the results, the flash point for
diesel that can be concluded is at 41°C. The first flame at 27.2°C cannot be the flash point
because there could be leftovers from previous experiment that used other substance with lower
flash point than diesel. Therefore, the flash point from the observation of experiment is at 41°C.

As to compare the flash point of other petroleum products, the product that is used is
diesel only so the flash point from the experiment cannot be compared. But from the expected
flash point, the flash point for lube oil, kerosene, diesel and petrol is 218°C, 72 °C, 62 °C and
−43 °C respectively. From the expected flash point, the lowest flash point among all petroleum
product is petrol followed by diesel, kerosene and lastly lube oil.

From the experiment, the flash point obtained is at 44°C and the expected flash point is at
62°C. The flash point from the experiment may happened to be low because the diesel used is
processed and has composition of other substances that caused the flash point to be low. The
expected flash point is from pure diesel and has no other mix from other substances.

Therefore, from the results and discussion, all of the objectives of the experiment had
been achieved.

Tutorial

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1. What are the expected flash point of diesel and kerosene?
Based on research on material safety data sheets, the expected flash point of kerosene are
38°C (100 °F) minimum while diesel fuel flash points vary between 52 °C and 96 °C (126 °F
and 205 °F) with an average 80 °C (176 °F) for expected flash point of diesel.

2. What are the actual flash point of diesel and kerosene?

Based on experiment that has been done, the actual flash point of diesel was 44°C. The test
on kerosene had not been done because the equipment available in laboratory was broken down
and cannot detect the flash point of kerosene. However, the actual flash point of kerosene
obtained was assumed as same in value with expected flash point of kerosene which was 38°C
(100 °F) minimum.

3. Is there any difference between expected and actual flash point of the samples?
Discuss.
Yeah, the predicted and actual flash point of the diesel petroleum products was slightly
different However, in the case of kerosene, the kerosene test was not carried out because the
laboratory equipment was broken down and cannot detect the flash point of kerosene where the
real flash point of kerosene was believed to be the same as the predicted flash point of kerosene
obtained from the safety data sheet of materials which is at least 38 ° C (100 ° F). For diesel,
there was a slight difference between expected and actual flash point which are 62°C and 44°C,
respectively. This slight difference occurred may be because of the accuracy measurement
device was not quite accurate and the Pensky Marten’s apparatus was old and harmed. Next, the
errors might be because of the crude diesel was not mixed properly before being used and test in
Pensky Marten’s apparatus. However, although the fuel was mixed and stirred during the
experimental test but the diesel used was from recycling where some impurities may have
existed and the diesel was polluted and sediment was found at the bottom of the diesel container.
The suggestion for potential development is that the fuel used must be the new diesel, and the
diesel must be correctly stirred prior to use. Then, to prevent systematic errors (errors caused by
equipment or machine) the equipment must be reviewed and tested before the experiment runs.

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4. What are the importance of flash point to petroleum products?
Through knowing the flash point of the petroleum products, the value of flash point to
petroleum products is that it will be easier for people to use, store and transport the petroleum
products accordingly, where most petroleum products need to be stored in the underground
petroleum pump, which gives an idea of the maximum temperature below which the petroleum
products can be used, prepared, stored and transported. First, the flash point helps to determine
the nature of the flammability and combustibility of the fuel where the lower the flash point, the
higher the flammable or the fuel of the petroleum products. Then, the petroleum product's flash
point is also used by petroleum product producers and marketers to identify contamination where
a significantly lower flash point than predicted for petroleum product is a reliable indicator that
the petroleum product has become polluted with more volatile petroleum product like gasoline.
The flash point is also used as an aid in determining the identity of a given petroleum product.
The flash point also shows the fire hazard of petroleum products, and the lack of evaporation at
high temperatures. In the petroleum classification, the flash point is important to decide the light
or heavy petroleum products where light crude oil is liquid petroleum with low density, low
specific gravity, low wax content, high API gravity and free flow at room temperature due to the
presence of high proportion of light hydrocarbon fractions while heavy crude oil has high
density, high specific gravity, high wax content and low API gravity.

5. If you have a sample of unknown and from the flash point test rig, you find out that the
flash point is 40 ºC, what could the material be?
If I have an unknown sample and I find out from the flash point test rig that the flash point is
40 °C, then the substance could be kerosene. This is because kerosene had predicted a flash point
between 38 ° C and 72 ° C (100 ° F and 162 ° F) with a minimum of 38 ° C of kerosene flash
point. Kerosene (also known as paraffin, lamp oil, and coal oil) is a petroleum-derived
combustible hydrocarbon liquid that is commonly used as a fuel in industry and households.

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5.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Conclusion
In conclusion, the experiment's goals were achieved. It can be concluded that the expected
flash point of diesel is in the range of 62℃ but from this experiment, the actual flash point obtain
is 44℃. For every grade of diesel, the flashpoint is different by each other. Diesel can be
considered as safer than another petroleum product like kerosene, petrol and lube oil since it has
the highest flashpoint. Petroleum products with a flashpoint below 40℃ are easily ignited on the
exposure of flame which can cause a burn. Petroleum is normally having a low flash point at
40℃. Therefore, special precautions are needed for safe handling. The flashpoint of flammable
liquid also depends on the number of carbon atom which is the higher the number of the carbon
atom, the higher the flashpoint of the petroleum products.

Recommendation

There are some recommendations should be improved in this experiment. First, the original
sample should be used to maintain the consistency of the result. Next, any sources of ignition
should be avoided when handling flammable and combustible liquid. Last but not least, proper
storage is required to store the flammable liquid away from ignition factors. This experiment is
important because in real life there are many methods for each petroleum product. Different
transportation required different methods because the wrong method of exporting products may
cause hazards.

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 REFERENCES

Di Benedetto, A. S. (2018). Retrieved from

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0950423017301705

Janès, A. (2013). determinantion of flash point of flammable liquid aqueous solution. Italy: AIDIC Servizi
S.r.l.

Ljubas, D. K. (2016). Retrieved from http://repozitorij.fsb.hr/4414/

Paar, A. (2020). Retrieved from https://wiki.anton-paar.com/my-en/flash-and-fire-point-measurement/

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