Three steps to protecting your process from dust explosions
While explosions account for less than 4 percent of processing plant interruptions in the US each year, they account for nearly 40 percent of all losses, including personnel injuries and deaths, equipment losses, and downtime. This article details how you can prevent such a costly disaster at your plant by taking a planned approach to explosion protection. Sections outline the three steps in this approach and list sources for further reading on explosion protection and applicable National Fire Protection Association codes and standards.
In many cases, personnel in a dry bulk solids processing plant aren't aware of the plant's dust explosion hazards until an explosion occurs. Dust explosion hazards are seldom given the same careful analysis as a plant's fire hazards. This is despite the fact that a relatively small amount of dust can generate a devastating pressure wave when ignited.