Marginally explosible dusts: hazard identification and risk reduction

Dust explosions are a persistent industrial occurrence that continue to cause harm to people, damage to equipment and buildings, and economic loss from process downtime and the subsequent interruption in business activities. There are strong moral, legal and financial arguments for taking appropriate steps to prevent dust explosions from happening and to protect workers and facilities from the consequences of such events. The project described in this proposal is aimed at helping to ensure safer operation of industrial enterprises in Canada and worldwide with respect to the processing of combustible particulate materials.Research will be conducted on a specific class of combustible dust known as marginally explosible dusts. These materials pose a unique challenge when designing dust explosion prevention and mitigation measures; while they appear to explode during laboratory-scale tests, their explosion characteristics in industrial-size facilities are less certain. Comprehensive investigation of this uncertainty is only possible by means of concurrent testing using standard laboratory-scale equipment and specialized larger-scale test chambers.A highly skilled, interdisciplinary team has been assembled to work on this collaborative research and development project of importance to the safety of Canadians. Research personnel at Dalhousie University will work with national and international partners drawn from industry and a government research institute in delivering quality and timely research results. Strong commitment from Canadian industry has been demonstrated for the proposed project by virtue of the three supporting organizations (Fauske & Associates, Professional Loss Control and Fike), which are contributing funding, expertise and time of key personnel, and access to otherwise unavailable test facilities. A body of highly qualified personnel will therefore be trained in skills relevant to the Canadian workforce in industry, academia and government. The most important benefit to Canada of the proposed research will be the protection of its citizens from the life-threatening effects of industrial dust explosions.