Vacuum cleaning systems: The right tool for removing combustible dust
This article explains how to minimize explosion hazards by using a vacuum cleaning system to safely remove combustible dust from your plant.
Controlling combustible dust hazards in dry bulk solids plants is a hot topic today. Yet concerns about how to clean up dust that can lead to dust explosions are nothing new. A 1922 National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) book titled Dust Explosions cites the need for a vacuum cleaner that can withstand the rigors of an industrial environment. It states that despite every precaution a plant takes to capture dust at the source, small amounts of fugitive dust "will get into the atmosphere...and gather on floors, walls, and ledges." The book's authors knew then — as we know today — that "if there is no accumulation of dust and the plant is perfectly clean, the explosion cannot propagate and the plant will not be destroyed."