Lecture 7 Fire

and explosion
Basis of safety
 Basis of Safety Concept Preventative and
Protective
• Principle • Preventative
• Not just precaution • Avoid the occurr ence
• Links to precautions • Avoidance of flammagle
atmosphere
• Protect from Harm/ injury
• Avoidance of source o ignition
• People
• Not necessar ily stop events • Protective
• Accepts that an ignition source
cannot be controlled and
adopts measures to protect
plant and personnel
• Containment
• Venting
• Suppression
 Fire and Explosion Hazard
Assessment Process

• Identify & characterise (record)

flammable materials and
atmosphere
• Identify & quantify ignition
sources
• Specify Basis of Safety ( BoS)
• Specify measure required to
achieve BoS
 Avoidance of flammable
atmospheres
• Operate Below flash point
• Operate below the lower flammable limit
• Most ventilation/ scrubber systems
• Dust settle: some fraction in flammable range
• Hybrid maybe flammable
• Operate 50C below if possible
• Avoid dust generation
• Use aqueous pastes (some very wet pastes still form
dust clouds)
• Use inert gas
 Avoid flammable materials

• Avoid small particle size

• Large particles do no propagate flame readily
• Use particle sizes of >500 microns
• Avoid crushing/ attrition
Produces fines

• Increase moisture content

• Raises energy needed for ignition
• (ideally beyond what could be generated on the plant)
• Gener ally, need more than 30% moisture content
• Bewar e of dewatering in drums
 Dust control measures –
Keep it clean
• Localise where dust may occur
• Reduce the concentration of the suspended dust below the LEL
• In Europe ATEX directive requires plant to be free from deposited
dust

• Good Housekeeping required

• Avoids the possibility of secondary
explosions

• Avoids dust clouds from disturbed layers

• Housekeeping methods:
• Can use explosion rated vacuums (must be
maintained as SCE)
• Avoid Brushing- Wet if have to brush
• DO NOT BLOW- it causes dust clouds & dust
will settle elsewhere
 Elimination of ignition sources

Control of Control of static Maintenance and

Control of
heat sources Design and sources of electricity Reliability
Electrical Compliance ignition • Earth all conducting • Procedures
equipment • standards • Powder plant items • Preventative
Hot surfaces • procedures decomposition • Earth People Maintenance
Permit to work • Pyrophoric type • Minismise charge • Safety Critical
• materials generation
Control of friction materials Equipment
• properties • Restrict use of
• Exothermic • Training
Mechanical friction plastics
reactions
Impact sparks
• Fundamentals of
understanding of
materials
 Preventing thermal decomposition

• Specify safe operating envelope

• Temperature, Pressure and time
• Specify appropriate equipme nt
• Area classification/ Equipment T rating

• Housekeeping
• Prevent thermal cycling
• Minimize fuel in every of decomposition

• Why use a safety factor

• Thermal cycling
• Contamination (oil/ grease/ metals/ corrosion/ impurities)
• Error in temperature measurement
• Variation in heating medium
• Variation in process/ chemicals
 Spontaneous Heating

• Undisturbed layers of bulk material

• Exothermic
• Oxidations, or boplogical reactions
• Heat Generate> loss= run-away
• Induction times can be long
• E.g.: hot material packed into ICB’s
• Safe exposure temperature
From lab
Effect of scale

• Quarantine
 Summary of Avoidance of
Ignition Source

• Useful when applied appropriately

• Needs data
• Intimate understanding
• Flammability characteristics
• Plant, equipment and operations
• Challenge assumptions in light of expoeruence
• Many eyes
• Safety Margin