Basics of Suspended Solids Ignition

Preliminaries. The combustion of suspended dusts and powders is quite complex and only imperfectly understood. The complexity stems from both fundamental and practical considerations. On the fundamental side, the ignition of suspensions of finely divided solids is influenced by hard-to-quantify factors such as the time-varying concentration of solids, the chemical activity and morphology of the particulate, and the degree of confinement provided by the vessel. On the practical side, industrial conditions are seldom sufficiently well-controlled or characterized to justify application of existing theoretical models. For all the above reasons, this chapter can provide only a very abbreviated coverage of ignition basics. The reader is referred to other sources for in-depth treatment of dust and powder explosions (Bodurtha, 1980 Bartknecht, 1981 Bartknecht, 1987). 

The investigation of an industrial fire or explosion invariably starts with an effort to identify each element in the fire triangle. Quite often, the fuel is known and so either the oxidizer or the ignition source becomes the focus of the investigation. For example, in a blender used to mix a 

For a dust ignition to occur, the suspended solids concentration must lie between lower and upper limits which vary from material to material and are influenced by subtle factors such as particle shape and size distribution. From the standpoint of assessing safety hazards in commercial and industrial operations, the lower explosive limit is the more important one. The rationale of this statement is that, if the possibility of exceeding the lower limit in a powder-handling operation can not be completely ruled out, then a hazard must be recognized and appropriate measures taken. Over the 

Types of dust Ignition temp, of dust cloud, °C Ignition temp, of dust layer, °C Min. ignition energy (MIE), J Min. explosion cone., g/nC 

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