Explosions
A large number of powdered and liquid materials can ignite or even explode under the right circumstances. 80% of organic based powders have the potential to explode if allowed to form a cloud in ordinary atmosphere and exposed to an ignition source. Dust fires and explosions can cause injury, plant damage, lost production and loss of workforce confidence.
Many manufacturers are of the risks they face from gases and vapours but industry is still slow to realise the level of risk from mishandling potentially explosive powders. Chilworth have many years of experience in handling potentially hazardous material and can provide relevant safety data and specific advice on how to avoid incidents in the workplace.
HOW CHILWORTH CAN HELP - Laboratory testing to establish fire, explosion and thermal stability properties
- Dust explosion properties determination using a range of tests such as 20ltr sphere, minimum ignition energy (MIE) and limited oxygen concentration (LOC).
- Particle size characterisation of powders or sprays
- Solvent vapour and gas flammability properties using tests such as flash point, flammable range and autoignition temperature.
- Independent Consultancy advice to carry out hazard and risk assessment work in fields such as electrostatic, dust explosion hazards, gas/vapour flammability, safety audits and hazardous area classification.
- Incident investigations to establish the cause of the explosion and how to prevent recurrence.
- Training courses to improve awareness of process hazards and how to prevent an explosion.
Chilworth Technology laboratories can handle powdered materials, gases or vapours, even if they are toxic or highly active and can offer a fast turnaround service if required.
We strive to ensure only essential testing is undertaken, that our reports are comprehensive and meaningful and that specialists are on hand to provide expert advice on the interpretation of results.
Our commitment to customer satisfaction means that we will work with you to tailor our testing and reporting to your specific process safety needs and within budget.
Publications
 | A QUESTION OF DATA: The Right Testing Package
Clients come to us at Chilworth Technology for a whole range of testing needs including data for regulatory purposes (NONS, CHIP, MSDS), transportation classification and process safety (ATEX / DSEAR). They may have one or one hundred powders to test, but in all cases they are looking for an expert assessment of their needs and a cost effective and reliable solution to their data requirements.
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| .jpg) | CHARP SOLUTIONS
Our award winning powder profiling package. A graphical low cost method of identifying and ranking hazardous properties of powders. Ideally suited to clients with large numbers of unclassified powders who requires a simple, clear indication of which are potentially hazardous.
 Available for download to Subscribers |
|  | DUSTSCREEN
Companies should be aware of their compliance obligations under the ATEX 137 EU Directive regarding potentially explosive atmospheres in the workplace, implemented as the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations (DSEAR 2002) in the UK. The provision of an appropriate basis of safety for powder handling operations requires a detailed risk assessment that must consider the fire and explosion properties of all processed materials.
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|  | FIRE & EXPLOSION HAZARDS SERVICES
Almost every industrial company is involved in the handling or flammable solvents, dusts, gases and thermally unstable substances. The introduction of new European Directives places additional regulatory requirements on all employers to characterise and control the hazardous properties of all material handled.
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|  | FLAMMABILITY CHARACTERISTICS OF POWDERS
This paper presents a brief review of the flammability characteristics of powders and dusts and addresses some fundamentals of uncontrolled combustion phenomena.
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|  | MILLING HAZARDS DATASHEET
Published material and our own experience has shown that particle size reduction equipment such as certain types of mills are perhaps the most likely sources of dust explosions.
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|  | POWDER HAZARDS LEAFLET
Essential data for hazard assessment and the prevention of fires and explosions in processing plants.
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|  | TESTING FOR EXPLOSIVE POTENTIAL
Explosive substances can have a devastating impact on people and plant. Whilst we know this to be true of munitions, pyrotechnics and other “tailored” explosives, this can also be true of many other chemicals used for completely innocent, unrelated purposes. Some pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals contain highly energetic functional groups, which can impart potentially explosive properties to a molecule.
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|  | VALIDATA
Safety data is critical in the definition of safe operating conditions for material handling and processing across all industries as it underpins the design and specification of safety systems. The recent EU Directive, ATEX 137, implemented as DSEAR 2002 in the UK, places considerable emphasis on understanding the fire and explosion properties of the materials you are handling or processing. It is essential therefore, that the data you have is the "right" data. This similarly applies to regulatory safety data used for transport, packaging and labelling classification.
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Chilworth Video
Layer Ignition Temperature Test (LIT) |
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