The Forgotten Hazard of Smoldering Dust Fires and Self-Heating of PowdersThe Forgotten Hazard of Smoldering Dust Fires and Self-Heating of Powders

While dust explosions are a serious hazard in the process industries, an often overlooked hazard is that of dust fires and self-heating. The historic NFPA dust standards like NFPA 652, 654, 61, 664, and 484 had provisions to mitigate dust fires and address self-heating hazards. The new NFPA 660 has inherited these provisions. This presentation will review the various aspects of dust fire mitigation and focus on testing methods and analysis for self-heating of powders, harmful/flammable gas evolution from smoldering dust and also comment on hot ember ignition of bulk piles. The presentation will also address the phenomenon of bulk materials becoming hazards when they are exposed to water – dangerous when wet. Methods to ascertain these hazards will be presented and mitigation strategies will be discussed.