As appeared in March 2016 PBE

Copyright CSC Publishing

www.powderbulk.com

Using pneumatic conveying to reduce your

combustible dust explosion risk
Mitch Lund

Nol-Tec Systems

Combustible dust can be a severe hazard to your

plant and workers, but a pneumatic conveying
system can reduce your plants risk for a combustible dust explosion. This article explains the five
elements required for a dust explosion and shows
how a pneumatic conveying system allows you to
control those elements to reduce your plants dust
explosion risk.

ombustible dust is a critical concern for any plant

that processes and conveys bulk solid materials.
Recent changes in regulations have brought this
issue into greater focus, and the NFPA has strengthened
safety standards to prevent and mitigate explosions and
fires in plants where combustible dust is present. Several
NFPA standards pertain to combustible dust in various
individual industries, but the NFPAs intent is to have
consistent standards across industries and materials.1
Under the right circumstances, nearly any type of dust can
be combustible. Even some materials that arent normally
considered combustible can produce combustible dust.
Generally, particles smaller than 40 mesh can create a
hazard if theyre allowed to accumulate or become
airborne. Materials that produce combustible dusts
include sugar, coal, aluminum, wood, graphite, corn,
titanium, paper, and many others. Combustible dust
explosions have impacted a broad cross-section of
industries, as shown in Figure 1.

The dust explosion pentagon

Five elements are needed for a dust explosion to occur:
combustible dust, oxygen, an ignition source, dispersion
of the dust in the air, and a confined space in which the dust
cloud is contained. These five elements are called the dust
explosion pentagon, as shown in Figure 2. The first three
elements are needed to ignite a fire (or deflagration), while
the last two elements can turn that fire into an explosion. If
any one element is removed or suppressed, an explosion
cant occur.

Figure 1
Combustible dust explosions by industry
Rubber/
plastics
10%

Utility
7%

Paper
7%

Non-manufacturing
3%
Food
24%

Metal
13%

Wood
23%
Chemical
13%
Source: Combustible Dust Policy Institute

Copyright CSC Publishing

Figure 2
Dust explosion pentagon

Pneumatic conveying addresses all five dust explosion

elements and allows you more control over the elements
than typical mechanical conveying methods, such as belt,
vibratory, chain-drag, or screw conveyors or bucket
elevators. With pneumatic conveying, you can more
effectively remove elements of the dust explosion
pentagon from your process, helping you to prevent a
combustible dust explosion and meet NFPA standards.
Lets explore how pneumatic conveying allows you to
control each dust explosion element.
Avoid fueling the explosion
Combustible dust created from processing your material
provides the fuel for a dust explosion. Eliminating dust
completely can be very difficult in any conveying system,
but a pneumatic conveying system can help you minimize
this fuel source.
Dust is created when your materials particles break or
degrade during handling. Many mechanical conveying
methods tend to facilitate that breakage due to vibration
and particle-to-particle or particle-to-equipment abrasion.
Depending on your material, you may be able to use
dense-phase pneumatic conveying to minimize this
breakage and produce less dust. Unlike dilute-phase
pneumatic conveying, which uses low-pressure, highvolume air to convey material at high velocity, densephase pneumatic conveying uses high-pressure,
low-volume air to convey the material at low velocity. The
material moves through the conveying line in a series of
slugs in which theres very little interparticle abrasion or
impact with the conveying-line wall. This slug flow can be
much gentler and less abrasive on your material and create
less dust than dilute-phase pneumatic conveying.

Dust accumulation in the workspace or in your conveying

system can also provide fuel for a fire or explosion. If your
conveying system allows material to drop out of the
process stream and accumulate in the workspace or
conveying system, this accumulation can create an
explosion hazard. Unlike mechanical conveying,
pneumatic conveying offers 100 percent material
containment with no transfer points or other locations for
material to accumulate. Also, a pneumatic conveying
system can include air injection ports to add motive air
into the conveying line at points where material might be
prone to settle and accumulate. This additional airflow
keeps material moving along the conveying line and
prevents material accumulation that could fuel an
explosion.
Take oxygen out of the equation
Its difficult to imagine a way to keep oxygen out of any
bulk solids manufacturing process. Were surrounded by
it! But you dont need to eliminate oxygen completely to
prevent a dust explosion; you just need to reduce the
oxygen concentration to below your materials limiting
oxygen concentration (LOC) The LOC is the volumetric
percentage of oxygen in the conveying gas below which
combustion cannot occur. This safe oxygen level varies
greatly depending on the material but is typically less than
15 percent, as shown in Table I. Particle size is also a factor
when determining LOC. As the table shows, the LOC of
cellulose with a 51-micron median particle size is 11
percent, but the LOC of cellulose with a smaller, 22micron median particle size is just 9 percent.

Table l
Limiting oxygen concentration of common materials
(Nitrogen-air mixture)
Material

Median particle
diameter by mass
(microns)

Limiting oxygen
concentration
(percent O2)

Bread-wheat flour

60

11

Aluminum

22

Corn starch

17

Polyethylene

26

10

Cellulose

22

Cellulose

51

11

Wood flour

27

10

Brown coal

66

12

Bituminous coal

17

14

Magnesium alloy

21

Ferrosilicon magnesium alloy

17

Rubber powder

95

11

Aminophenazone

<10

Methionine

<10

12

Polyacrylonitrile

26

10

Sources: Diversified Air Systems; Fauske & Associates, LLC; NFPA

Copyright CSC Publishing

Keeping the oxygen in the conveying gas below the

materials LOC eliminates the possibility of an explosion. In
a pneumatic conveying system, this is done by inerting.
Inerting uses an inert gas, such as nitrogen, rather than air for
the conveying gas. This reduces the oxygen percentage to a
safe level and removes the dust explosion threat for the vast
majority of bulk solid materials. Inerting a mechanical
conveying system would be very difficult, however, because
a mechanical conveying system isnt completely enclosed
like a pneumatic conveying system.
Eliminate ignition sources
Ignition sources come in many forms, as shown in Figure 3.
The ignition source for a fire or explosion in a mechanical
conveying system can be anything from a spark produced by
an out-of-alignment system component to an overheating
bearing or belt. Visually monitoring your entire system to
find these potential causes of ignition can be difficult.

Pneumatic conveying eliminates the major ignition

sources, minimizing the possibility of an explosion. With
pneumatic conveying, few moving parts come into
contact with your material or other equipment. Since
theres no friction between moving components, a
pneumatic conveying system reduces the chance of
sparking and heat sources that could ignite the material.
Often, pneumatic conveying systems also incorporate
automated controls and monitoring devices, which
optimize process safety. These precision controls can
monitor the system and stop potential equipment
problems before they can develop into an ignition source.

Figure 3

Friction
9%

Fire
8%

Other
3%

Mechanical sparks
30%

With a mechanical conveying system, the surrounding air

isnt moving, so dust can hang in the air and reach dangerous
concentrations. A pneumatic conveying system encloses the
material and dust and keeps them moving, allowing you to
control the air-to-material ratio and ensure that a dangerous
dust concentration doesnt develop. This is impossible with
an open mechanical conveying system without the use of an
extensive dust collection system and sheathing.

Contain the dust cloud safely

The final element of the dust explosion pentagon is dust
cloud containment. As stated earlier, in a pneumatic
conveying system, the material is 100 percent contained,
which may seem to present a hazard. In a properly designed
system, however, that containment is controlled to
minimize your explosion risks. Pneumatic conveying
allows you to contain dust safely and collect it from the
system so it doesnt accumulate in the workspace and create
a hazard. Remember, containment is only a concern if all
other elements of the dust explosion pentagon are present. A
properly designed pneumatic conveying system can
prevent that from happening. Work with an experienced
pneumatic conveying system supplier to ensure that your
system efficiently and effectively conveys your material
while keeping your plant and workers safe.
PBE
References

Dust explosion ignition sources

Unknown/no data
11.5%

Manage your dust dispersion

Combustible dust needs to be in specific concentrations in
the atmosphere to be an explosion hazard. The NFPA has
done extensive research on combustible materials and has
developed specific formulas for calculating these
concentrations. Its important that you have your dust
tested to determine safe concentration levels for your
material and application.

1. See www.nfpa.org and www.osha.org for detailed information on

combustible dust standards and explosion prevention.

Hot surfaces
6.5%

Self-ignition
6%

For further reading

Find more information on pneumatic conveying in articles
listed under Pneumatic conveying in Powder and Bulk
Engineerings article index in the December 2015 issue or the
Article Archive on PBEs website, www.powderbulk.com.
Find more information on dust explosion prevention in
articles listed under Explosion/fire protection. (All articles
listed in the archive are available for free download to
registered users.)

Mitch Lund is a chemical engineer and product manager

for Nol-Tec Systems, Inc. (mitchlund@nol-tec.com). He
has 4 years of experience in field-testing for pneumatic
conveying system design and new product development.
Nol-Tec Systems

Electrical equipment
Welding
3.5%
5%
Smolder
spots
Static electricity
9%
9%

Lino Lakes, MN
651-780-8600
Source: OSHA

www.nol-tec.com