• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.39-44
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• 2018

Dust explosions are occurring in a variety of industries. A dust explosion caused by a specific energy generates huge amount of energy in the ignition and releases decomposition gas. Damages can be increased since this released decomposition gas can cause second and subsequent explosions. In this study, the goal was to obtain practical information on what could affect the explosion by comparing the characteristics of two kinds of dusts with completely different chemical properties. Three kinds of dusts were measured and evaluated for explosion pressure, dust explosion index, explosion limit and minimum ignition energy. It is possible to grasp the characteristics of each dust and use it as useful accident prevention data in the production of raw material powder.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.600-608
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• 2017

Hazard risk of explosion on pharmaceutical raw materials dust in pharmaceutical industry often exists when it is handled or processed in the industrial sites, and explosion accident is caused by this. In this study, the dust explosion characteristics of the three pharmaceutical raw materials samples were measured. The main explosion characteristics are as follows: $P_{max}$, MIE and MIT of loxoprofen acid having $5.31^{\circ}C$ of median diameter are obtained 8.4 bar, 1 mJ < MIE < 3 mJ and $550^{\circ}C$. $P_{max}$, MIE and MIT of camphorsulfonate having $95.63^{\circ}C$ of median diameter are obtained 7.9 bar, 30 mJ < MIE < 100 mJ and $510^{\circ}C$. $P_{max}$, MIE and MIT of rifampicine having $26.48^{\circ}C$ of median diameter are obtained 7.9 bar and 1 mJ < MIE < 3 mJ and $470^{\circ}C$. The deflagration index ($K_{st}$) and the explosion index (EI) were obtained by using these data. The explosion hazard assessment of pharmaceutical raw materials dust was compared and examined. As a result, the explosion hazard assessment according to deflagration index and explosion index were the explosion class with St 2 and the explosion hazard rating of severe for loxoprofen acid & rifampicine and St 1 and strong for clopidogrel camphorsulfonate, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.81-86
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• 2013

Accidents of dust explosion has been occurred in various industries as a plastics, pharmaceuticals, timber, grain storage, solid fuels and chemicals. In this study, the silo dust, hammer mill dust and Nyusong dust in the manufacturing process of the particle board to utilize west wood, which were selected for this experiment and were evaluated the characteristics of dust explosion. The explosion characteristics such as a maximum explosion pressure, explosion index, lower explosive limit, and minimum ignition energy in suspended dust of the wood by Siwek 20 L apparatus were measured and evaluated for the experiment. The results of this study can be used the process safety measures to prevent accidents of fire and explosion in the suspended dust of wood.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.629-637
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• 2017

Severe dust explosions occurred frequently in food processing industries and explosion damage increase by flame propagation in pipes or plants. However there are few fire explosion data available due to various powder characteristics. We investigated the characteristics of ignition and explosion on sugar, cornstarch and flour dust with high frequency accidents and high social demand. The measurements showed the median diameter of 27.56, 14.76, $138.5{\mu}m$ and ignition temperature has been investigated using by thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The maximum explosion pressure ($P_m$) and dust explosion index ($K_{st}$) of sugar, cornstarch and flour are 7.6, 7.6, 6.1 bar and 153, 133, 61 [$m{\cdot}bar/s$], respectively. The flame propagation time in duct was calculated in order to evaluate the damage increase due to flame propagation during dust explosion. The explosion hazard increase due to flame propagation was higher in the order of sugar, flour and cornstarch dust.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.80-88
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• 2023

Ensuring safety in the designing of manufacturing and handling facilities for low-density polyethylene (LDPE) is difficult because there are no standards for the dust explosion characteristics of LDPE. In this study, a dust explosion test was performed on two dust samples collected from a bag filter (LDPE 1) during the LDPE manufacturing process and sedimentary dust (LDPE 2) leaked outside a facility such as a silo, and the LDPE 2 explosion test results were summarized. Particle size analysis showed that the volume-based particle diameter (median) was 95.04 ㎛ and the number density was 0-1 ㎛. The maximum explosion pressure (P_max) was 6.6 bar, and the maximum rate of explosion pressure rise was 366 [bar/s] at 1500 g/m³. Accordingly, the dust explosion index (K_st) was 99.4 bar·m/s, which was confirmed as ST-1 grade. Moreover, the minimum ignition energy and minimum ignition temperature was 10 mJ and 450 ℃, respectively. Currently, manufacturing and handling design is based on the characteristic values of high-density polyethylene (HDPE). However, as the test results show that LDPE 2 dust has a higher risk than HDPE (particle diameter 61.6 ㎛), caution is required when using the HDPE design criteria in the LDPE manufacturing process.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.367-373
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• 2016

Many of plastic powders handled in industry are combustible and have the hazard of dust fire and explosion accidents. However poor information about the safe handling has been presented in the production works. The aim of this research is investigated experimentally on explosive characteristics of various plastic powders used in industry and to provide additional data with safety informations. The explosibility parameters investigated using standard dust explosibility test equipment of Siwek 20-L explosion chamber. As the results, the dust explosion index ($K_{st}$) of ABS ($209.8{\mu}m$), PE ($81.8{\mu}m$), PBT ($21.3{\mu}m$), MBS ($26.7{\mu}m$) and PMMA ($14.3{\mu}m$) are 62.4, 59.4, 70.3, 303 and 203.6[$bar{\cdot}m/s$], respectively. And flame propagation velocity during plastic dust explosions for prediction of explosive damage was estimated using a flame propagation model based on the time to peak pressure and flame arrival time in dust explosion pressure assuming the constant burning velocity.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.6
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• pp.790-803
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• 2019

The dioctyl terephthalic acid (DOTP) process produces plastic plasticizers by esterification of terephthalic acid with powder in the form of octanol. In this study, the dust explosion characteristics of terephthalic acid directly injected into the manhole in the form of powder in the presence of flammable solvent or vapor in the reactor of this process were investigated. Dust particle size and particle size distribution dust characteristics were investigated, and pyrolysis characteristics of dust were investigated to estimate fire and explosion characteristics and ignition temperature. Also, the minimum ignition energy experiment was performed to evaluate the explosion sensitivity. As a result, the average particle size of terephthalic acid powder was $143.433{\mu}m$. From the thermal analysis carried out under these particle size and particle size distribution conditions, the ignition temperature of the dust was about $253^{\circ}C$. The lower explosive limit (LEL) of the terephthalic acid was determined to be $50g/m^3$. The minimum ignition energy (MIE) for explosion sensitivity is (10 < MIE < 300) mJ, and the estimated minimum ignition energy (Es) based on the ignition probability is 210 mJ. The maximum explosion pressure ($P_{max}$) and the maximum explosion pressure rise rate $({\frac{dP}{dt}})_{max}$ of terephthalic acid dust were 7.1 bar and 511 bar/s, respectively. The dust explosion index (Kst) was 139 mbar/s, corresponding to the dust explosion grade St 1.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.21-26
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• 2014

In this study, the explosion characteristic of aluminium powders have been investigated as a function of particle size using by a 20 L dust explosion apparatus (K$\ddot{u}$hner). The tested aluminium particle sizes were the volume mean diameter of 16, 33 and $88{\mu}m$. The lower explosion limit increases gradually with the increasing of dust particle diameter, respectively 40, 60, $125g/m^3$ in mean diameter of 16, 33 and $88{\mu}m$. Also the increase in particle size for each aluminum dusts was found to cause an decrease in explosion pressure and Kst of dust explosion index, and a increase in the lower explosion concentration. Research results may have important implications for aluminum powders utilization and safety operation.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.33-38
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• 2013

A study was carried out on the effect of particle size (mean diameter) on magnesium dust explosion. Experimental investigations were conducted in a 20-L explosion sphere, using 10 kJ chemical ignitors. Explosion tests were performed with three different dusts having mean diameter (38, 142, $567{\mu}m$) and the dust concentrations were up to $2250g/m^3$. The lower explosion limits(LEL) of magnesium dusts were about $30g/m^3$ at $38{\mu}m$ and $40g/m^3$ at $142{\mu}m$. LEL tended to increase with particle size and this means that the explosion probability of magnesium dust decreased with increase of particle size. The maximum explosion presssure ($P_m$) and $K_{st}$ (Explosion index) decreased with the increase of particle size. For magnesium powder of $567{\mu}m$, however, the explosive properties were not observed in the 5 kJ ignition energy.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.1-6
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• 2012

Using the Siwek 20 L spherical explosion vessel, the explosion properties have been examined to understand the influence of magnesium content in Mg-Al alloy dusts with different concentration. For this purpose, the Mg-Al alloy dusts (volume mean diameter : $151{\sim}160{\mu}m$) with magnesium content ratio were used. As the results, the increase of Mg content in Mg-Al alloy causes an decreased minimum explosion concentration and an increased maximum explosion pressure. Also the maximum explosion pressure and maximum rate of pressure rise in Mg-Al alloy dusts mainly depended on the dust concentrations. However, for the explosion index (Kst) of Mg-Al (40:60 wt%), Mg-Al (50:50 wt%) and Mg-Al (60:40 wt%), it was founded to increase the Kst with increasing of magnesium content ratio.