Spontaneous combustion (combustion)

Spontaneous combustion or spontaneous ignition is a type of combustion which occurs by self-heating (increase in temperature due to exothermic internal reactions), followed by thermal runaway (self heating which rapidly accelerates to high temperatures) and finally, autoignition.

There have been unconfirmed anecdotal reports of people spontaneously combusting. This alleged phenomenon is not considered true spontaneous combustion, as supposed cases have been largely attributed to the wick effect, whereby an external source of fire ignites nearby flammable materials and human fat or other sources.

Hay is one of the more studied materials in spontaneous combustion. As hay varies by the type of grass and location grown utilized in its preparation, it is very hard to establish a unified theory of what occurs in hay self-heating. It is anticipated that dangerous heating will occur in hay that contains more than 25% moisture. The largest number of fires occurs within 2 to 6 weeks of storage, with the majority occurring at 4 to 5 weeks.

The process may begin with microbiological activity (bacteria or mold), but at some point, the process has to become chemical. Microbiological activity will also limit the amount of oxygen available in the hay. Moisture appears to be quite important, no matter what process. At 100 °C, wet hay absorbed twice the amount of oxygen of dry hay. There has been conjecture that the complex carbohydrates present in hay break down to simpler sugars, which are more readily oxidized.

Charcoal, when freshly prepared, can self-heat and catch fire. This is separate from hot spots which may have developed from the preparation of charcoal. Charcoal that has been exposed to air for a period of eight days is not considered to be hazardous. There are many factors involved, two being the type of wood and the temperature at which the charcoal was prepared.

Self-heating in coal has been extensively studied. The tendency to self-heat decreases with increasing rank of the coal. Lignite coals are more active than bituminous coals, which are more active than anthracite coals. Freshly mined coal consumes oxygen more rapidly than weathered coal, and freshly mined coal self-heats to a greater extent than weathered coal. The presence of water vapor may also be important, as the rate of heat generation accompanying the absorption of water in dry coal from saturated air can be an order of magnitude or more than the same amount of dry air.

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