Dust Testing - The First Step to
Avoid Process Explosions

Dust testing for explosibility is a requirement in many process applications to determine whether a powder or dust will explode when exposed to an ignition source when in the form of a dust cloud. The test results in a material being classified as either Type A -- Explosible -- or Type B --
Non-Explosible.

Understanding the characteristics of material being process should be your first step toward obtaining protection for your employees and processing equipment. In some cases, materials used at your process facility may already be documented. However, should there be no documentation for your materials, dust testing of your materials should be made at a facility using ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) and ISO (International Standard Organization) procedures.

FENWAL Protection Systems will provide dust testing for your materials using the latest standards and procedures, as will as recommend solutions to avoid the possibility of an explosion in
your process.

FENWAL Combustion Research Center (Dust Testing)

At our research center ASTM, DOT, UL, and other recognized test methods are used to characterize the combustion hazard properties of dusts, liquids, and gases. Key properties of combustible dust clouds include ignition sensitivity, IS (minimum ignition temperature, TC; minimum ignition energy, MIE; lower flammable limit, LFL – also called minimum explosible concentration, MEC) and dust cloud explosion severity, ES (maximum explosion pressure, PMAX; and the dust cloud explosibility index, KST).

The tendency of dust layers to spontaneous ignition can be characterized by evaluating the dust layer ignition temperature, TL; or its tendency to undergo self-heating or spontaneous combustion. Important combustion hazard properties of flammable liquids, combustible liquids and their flammable vapors include autoignition temperature, AIT; closed-cup flashpoint, lower flammable limit and upper flammable limit. The sustained burning test is important in relation to determining whether certain fluids are Class 3 combustible liquids for transportation purposes as defined by 49 CFR 173.120.

To mitigate the threat of industrial explosions do to the ignition of dust within a process, FENWAL Protection Systems provides Explosion Venting, Explosion Suppression and Explosion
Isolation systems.