Industrial Dust Explosions: Exposing the Myths, and Establishing the Facts, Behind These Devastating Events
Despite the frequency and seriousness of these events, many corporations are slow to accept the reality of the problem, and are often unaware that dust explosion protection solutions exist.
(PRWEB) June 21, 2005 -- Current statistics indicate that the average
manufacturing facility will experience a dust explosion every twenty years, with
chemical, pharmaceutical and milling plants likely to experience more frequent
events. However, despite recent examples of the devastation (in life, downtime
and lost revenue), many manufacturers remain unaware that their facilities could
be at high risk, or even that a wealth of dust explosion protection
solutions exist to prevent a problem before it occurs.
According to David
Cvetas, president of Cv Technology (www.cvtechnology.com) a prominent dust and gas explosion
protection consulting and technology company, many corporations are slow to
accept the reality that this could happen to them, despite the massive financial
risks, liability and potential loss of life.
“The corporations we work
with operate industrial or material processes that produce revenue from a
quarter million to several million dollars a day,” observes Cvetas. “A single
incident can shut a facility down for weeks or months, with devastating
effects.”
Cvetas explains that there are many myths surrounding dust
explosions, including:
Myth: Industrial dust explosions don’t occur that
often.
Fact: Current statistical calculations estimate that an average of
approximately 2-3 dust explosions occur in various manufacturing facilities in
the United States every day, with the results being very deadly and very
expensive.
Myth: If industrial dust explosions occur frequently, why
don’t we hear more about it in the press?
Fact: There are reports of
such events daily on national news tickers, but at the time of the initial
explosion the cause is generally unknown or identified. Usually, after a period
of days or weeks, an investigation will find that the cause was ignited dust.
Furthermore, discussion of an explosion is often off limits outside most
corporate offices for liability reasons.
Myth: It takes very unusual and
unique situations for a dust explosion to occur
Fact: Almost all organic
material or un-oxidized metal, when in a dust cloud, will ignite at a
temperature below 500 ?C ?approximately the temperature of a recently
extinguished match. Companies in pulp and paper, plastics, chemicals,
pharmaceuticals, textiles, and milling operations that handle powders and bulk
solids are also susceptible. Food dusts such as sugar, starch, flour, and cocoa
are also major causes of explosions.
DUST EXPLOSION PREVENTION:
Today,
safety-conscious facility managers are turning to specialized consultants and
technology vendors to develop strategies to reduce or eliminate the underlying
causes of explosive events.
Cvetas emphasizes that the best protection
systems blend active and passive technologies, and are as non-intrusive to
process operations as possible. He credits his company's success to mixing and
matching all available protection strategies and systems to each application,
based on hard engineering data.
Cv Technology has also invested a great
deal of time investigating technologies throughout Europe, to add to the
protection solutions available in the United States. Such technologies include
the Q-Rohr, a device originally developed by Rembe of Germany for safe indoor
venting of process-driven dust explosions.
“Dust explosion prevention
systems provide companies with peace of mind that they are operating their
plants safely, preventing potential loss of life, and also protecting capital
goods and valuable process revenue,” explains Cvetas.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/6/prweb253284.htm