Steamexfire



Steamexfire, manufactured by Liberty Gasturbine Holland BV, is a high flow inert gas generator, or any inert gas generator that produces an inert gas consisting of nitrogen, CO2, and steam. Such generators are utilized to reduce environmental oxygen enough to extinguish fires in settings like tunnels, mining, or shipping.

Principle
The Steamexfire is driven by a jet engine, in which air is compressed into a combustion chamber where fuel (kerosene) is injected. The flammable mixture of fuel and air is ignited by a sparkplug, and the gases expand as a result of the combustion process. The gases are forced into a turbine which drives a compressor. The exhaust gas of a jet engine contains approximately 17% oxygen. In a second stage combustion chamber, more fuel is injected and ignited. As a result of this process, all oxygen is consumed, and what remains is an inert gas. This process takes place in a 7-meter-long combustion tube, which is actively cooled by water. The heated water is injected at the end of the cooling tube, and consequently, the water is turned into water vapor or steam. As a result, the Steamexfire produces up to 25 cubic meters of inert steam and water vapor per second. The fore runner of the Steamexfire is called the GAG unit.

Underground mine fire
As the first successful deployments of the generator, Steamexfire was used to fight underground mine fires during the Goedehoop mine fire in South Africa, and again at the Svea Nord mine fire on Spitsbergen Island in 2005.