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December 24, 2010

Static charge + Flammable dust = EXPLOSION

A news article mentions that OSHA is investigating an explosion that occurred on Thursday morning,caused by static charge and flammable dust at a facility in the US.
"Six employees were working, but none were near the eruption, said Trumbauersville Fire Chief Josh Mallery.“They were very lucky,” said Mallery, whose company led the blaze battling effort. The explosion blew an interior wall eight inches back off the foundation and sparked spot fires in the walls, said Rafferty. A corrugated roll up door was blown out, its bottom half ripped off and flung about 30 feet. A portion of the plant’s exterior wall bellied out, and a heap of cinderblocks from the structure tumbled on the ground outside the plant.“It was amazing. I’ve been a firefighter for 15 years and I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Mallery.
Fearing more explosions, firefighters first directed their hoses at about 1,200 pounds of Polyclar10, the powdered substance that was at the root of the explosion. In a wetted, condensed form, the powder does not pose the explosive threat it does when airborne as fine, particulate dust, said Mallery.
Firefighters then concentrated on extinguishing the flames. “It was about 2 ½ hours before we had the situation stabilized,” said Mallery.The explosion happened while the Polycar10 was being packaged. The packaging equipment was grounded to prevent static charges that could combust the compound, but a bag the powder was being deposited into was not grounded, said Rafferty. As the powder moved across the plastic interior of the bag, a static charge was generated, providing the heat source that ignited the powder, which is used to clarify beer before bottling, the fire marshal said".
Read the full article in this link

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