Dust explosions are a serious problem in United States. The Chemical Safety Board has documented over the last 28 years there have been approximately 3,500 combustible dust explosions, 281 of these have been major incidents resulting in the deaths of 119 workers and another 718 workers sustained injuries. Remediation is essential to limiting risk.
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Combustible Dust Remediation
We have cleaned many industrial plants that contain combustible dust. Compliance with the combustible dust levels per the National Emphasis Program by OSHA can be challenging. Facilities that have combustible dust could a dust explosion. Our trained and experienced combustible dust technicians can evaluate and clean your facility in a safe manner. Feel free out the form below or call (336) 476-9274
Combustible Testing Types
The best way to qualify your risk is to test your dust. Over the years we have sampled many facilities to provide quantitative data to allow management to determine how best to proceed safely in the presence of combustible dust.
Go/NoGo - Initial Testing - to determine if your dust is combustible. ASTM E1226.
Explosion Severity - Combustible dust testing is performed in accordance with ASTM E1226. This provides the Pmax and KSt which characterize the explosion severity potential of the combustible dust.
Minimum Exposable Concentration (MEC) Testing - Is performed in accordance with ASTM E1515. This provides the MEC which is used in evaluating how much dust in a given volume (duct, room, etc.) is required to create an exposable atmosphere.
Minimum Ignition Energy (MIE) Testing - Is performed in accordance with ASTM E2019. This provides the MIE which is useful in evaluating how easy it is to ignite a dust with an electrical spark and can be used to determine what precautions are necessary to prevent ignition of the dust by static electricity.
Minimum Auto-Ignition Temperature (MAIT) Testing - Is performed in accordance with ASTM E1491. This provides the MAIT which is useful to evaluate maximum operating temperatures of heated equipment like ovens or dryers so that a dust cloud would not be ignited by the hot temperature in the equipment.
Dust Layer Hot Surface Ignition Temperature - This test is helpful in evaluating operating surface temperatures of ovens or other equipment to determine if dust that accumulates on a hot surface will eventually smolder or ignite due to self-heating of the material on the hot surface.
Combustible Dust Consulting
We have provided guidance on combustible dust to many industries over the years. After explosions we have seen first hand the results of failure to prevent combustible dust explosion. We provide combustible dust audits and guidance that can go a long way toward maintaining the safety of your facility.