What is Pyrophoric Iron Oxidation?
The word “pyrophoric” is derived from the Greek for “fire-bearing”. According to Webster’s dictionary, “pyrophoric material” means “any material igniting spontaneously or burning spontaneously in air when rubbed, scratched, or struck, e.g. finely divided metals”. Iron sulfide is one such pyrophoric material that oxidizes exothermically when exposed to air. It is frequently found in solid iron sulfide ord=Math.random(); ord=ord*10000000000000000000; document.write(”); if (navigator.userAgent.indexOf(“Gecko”)==-1) {document.write(”); } document.write(”); scales in refinery units. It makes no difference whether these pyrophoric sulfides exist as pyrite, troilite, marcasite, or pyrrhotite. It is formed by the conversion of iron oxide (rust) into iron sulfide in an oxygen-free atmosphere where hydrogen sulfide gas is present (or where the concentration of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) exceeds that of oxygen). The individual crystals of pyrophoric iron sulfides are extremely finely divided, the
