Theoretical Adiabatic Temperature and Chemical Composition of Sodium Combustion Flame

Sodium fire safety analysis requires fundamental combustion properties, e.g., heat of combustion, flame temperature, and composition. We developed the GENESYS code for a theoretical investigation of sodium combustion flame.

Our principle conclusions on sodium combustion under atmospheric air conditions are (a) the maximum theoretical flame temperature is 1950 K, and it is not affected by the presence of moisture; the uppermost limiting factor is the chemical instability of the condensed sodium-oxide products under high temperature; (b) the main combustion product is liquid Na₂O in dry air condition and liquid Na₂O with gaseous NaOH in moist air; and (c) the chemical equilibrium prediction of the residual gaseous reactants in the flame is indispensable for sodium combustion modeling.