Industry specific dust explosion likelihood assessment model with case studies

Abstract

Dust explosion is a potential threat to the process facilities handling dusts. Dust explosion occurrences are frequently reported in these industries. Industrial professionals and researchers have been trying to develop effective measures to assess and mitigate and/or prevent dust explosion. To develop effective prevention and mitigation strategies, it is important to understand the interaction of dust explosion controlling parameters and also to assess likelihood of occurrence in given conditions. Authors have proposed a conceptual framework to model dust explosion likelihood. In this paper, a detailed implementation of the conceptual model is presented. Three different dust classes (i.e. food feed; plastic, resin and rubber; and metal alloys) are considered for model development. The proposed model considers six key parameters of dust explosion: dust particles diameter, minimum ignition energy, minimum explosible concentration, minimum ignition temperature, limiting oxygen concentration and explosion pressure. These parameters are conditional to the type of dust and chemical composition. A conditional probabilistic approach is used to determine the total probability of dust explosion in a given process facility. Use of this model will help to assess the likelihood of dust explosion in given operating conditions. Moreover, it will help to develop prevention strategies focusing on the parameters that are responsible for dust explosion. Three case studies are presented here to demonstrate the application of the model in real life.