(511a) A Comprehensive Review: Metal Dust Cloud Combustion & Nonstandard Explosion Protection Applications

Combustible dust explosions continue to present a significant threat for a variety of industries relying on pneumatic conveyance and bulk powder storage. Although industry standards offer a prescriptive approach toward hazard definition and protection requirements, deviation from such guidance exposes critical gaps in understanding and obstructs the implementation of safe explosion mitigation solutions. Beginning with a discussion of inherent metal dust explosion risks, this comprehensive review provides a consolidation of the motivations and results for a range of investigations, with the objective of illustrating unique aspects of metal dust combustion phenomena and other nonstandard application scenarios. Included here within is a technical overview of the following recent published works:

• Characterization of thermal stability and heat absorption potential for various suppression agent compositions (https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.8b06143)
• Large scale (1 m³ combustion sphere) explosibility and suppression of iron and aluminum powder deflagrations (https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.9b04021)
• Consequence prediction for dust explosions involving adjacent interconnected vessels using FLACS modeling techniques (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jlp.2020.104149)
• Effect of particle morphology on aluminum dust explosion sensitivity and severity (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jlp.2021.104396)