Development of Fabrics for Steam and Hot Water Protection

• Author / Creator

  Murtaza, Ghulam

• Recently, use of steam and hot water in extracting and producing oil has become extensive, especially in bitumen extraction from oil sands and plants producing heavy oil. Temperatures of steam and hot water used are well above those that result in skin burns. This research reports on the development and testing of fabric systems intended for use in protective clothing to be worn by workers in the oil and gas sector for short-duration protection from both steam and hot water. To evaluate the fabrics developed, bench-scale tests were conducted with steam pressure of 210 kPa at 150 °C and hot water pressure of 0.6 kPa at 85 °C and with a flow rate of six l/min.
  Results indicated that the energy transfer through the fabric systems under a jet of steam or hot water is a function of several inter-related material parameters such as mass, thickness, location of moisture barrier, fabric construction, compressibility and fabric system density. Fabric thickness and density were found to be the most important factors for steam and hot water protection.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Hot water hazard
  • Steam hazard
  • Energy and mass transfer
  • Thermal protective clothing
  • Textile

• Graduation date

  Fall 2012

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3RQ66

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.