A dust explosion can have serious consequences for humans, the crowd, infrastructure and the environment. By understanding the root cause of a dust explosion and the fac-tors that influence its progression, we can manage the risk of its occurrence. The formation and progression of a dust explosion are mainly influenced by the particle size, dust concentration and thermal properties of the dust.
I experimentally determined the size and distribution of particle size, thermal proper-ties and minimum ignition energy for three commercially available isomers of com-bustible dust (phthalic, isophthalic, terephthalic) and particle size fractions between 56 and 80 μm, 80 and 100 μm, 100 μm and 125 μm.
Particle size fractions of 56 µm - 80 µm have the lowest MVE range, which is in the range between 10 mJ and 30 mJ. The original IPA and TPA samples have the same MVE range. The value of Es is the same in both and is 18.7 mJ. The original PA sample has the highest MVE range above 1000 mJ. As the particle size fractions increase, the MVE range increases. The largest increase in the MVE area is in TPA, when between the smallest and largest size fraction, the MVE area increases from 10 mJ - 30 mJ to 300 mJ - 600 mJ. PA has the lowest MVE range if the particles are between 80 µm and 125 µm in size. Compared to IPA and TPA, this range is about 100x lower. The lowest value of Es is reached by PA and the highest by TPA. The lower MVE range occurs due to the poor thermal stability of the compound, which decomposes at 190 ° C to a new compound, phthalic anhydride. While IPA and TPA are more stable compounds, they decompose at 240 ° C and 260 ° C, respectively. Particle size and particle size distribution have the greatest impact on MVE. The original IPA and TPA samples have low MVE ranges compared to the original PA sample due to the suffi-ciently large proportion of smaller particles in the sample and due to the narrower par-ticle size distribution. The particle size distribution is between a few 10 µm and 2000 µm for PA, while it is between a few 10 µm and 500 µm for the original IPA and TPA samples. The moisture content of the samples plays an important role in the formation of the dust explosion, but for none of the compounds does the moisture exceed 0.1%, so this factor was not essential for the results. The factor that most affects MVE is particle size. Smaller particles are the ones that cause ignition and are the most dangerous.
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