What Is a Dust Explosion?

Dust explosion refers to a dust cloud formed by combustible dust mixed with air in a confined space. Under the action of an ignition source, the formed dust-air mixture burns quickly and causes a chemical reaction that causes a sudden increase in temperature and pressure.

Dust explosion

There are generally five dust explosion conditions:

(1) The dust itself is flammable or explosive;

The effective fire extinguishing agent for dust explosion accidents is water, especially mist water. It can not only extinguish the combustion, but also moisten the unburned dust, disperse and eliminate the suspended dust, and reduce the air concentration. However, it is not advisable to use DC spray water and foam, and it is not advisable to use impact dry powder, carbon dioxide, 1211 fire extinguishing agent to prevent deposition The dust is suspended due to impact and causes a secondary explosion. ^[5]

From 1913 to 1973, the United States alone experienced 72 severe dust explosions in the industrial and agricultural fields. ^[9]

From 1952 to 1979, there were 209 dust explosion accidents of various types in Japan, with a total of 546 casualties. Among them, crushing and pulverizing projects and vacuum separation projects were prominent, with 46 cases each.

From 1965 to 1980, there were 768 dust explosion accidents of various kinds in the Federal Republic of Germany. Among them, the more serious were wood powder and wood product dust and food and feed explosion accidents, accounting for 32% and 25%, respectively.

In 1942, the world's largest coal dust explosion occurred in Benxi Coal Mine, killing 1,549 people and seriously injuring 246 people.

In 1987, a linen dust explosion in the Harbin Linen Factory killed 58 people and seriously injured 177 people. The direct economic loss was 8.88 million yuan. ^[1]

In February 2010, a corn starch dust explosion in Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province killed 19 people and injured 49.

In May 2011, an accidental explosion of combustible dust occurred in the Foxconn polishing workshop, which killed 3 people and injured 16 others.

In August 2012, an aluminum dust explosion occurred in a residential house in Ouhai District, Wenzhou City, causing it to collapse and burn, causing 13 deaths and 15 injuries.

In April 2014, a stearic acid dust explosion occurred in Dongchen Town, Rugao City, Nantong City, Jiangsu Province, which killed 8 people and injured 9 others. ^[10]

On August 2, 2014, an explosion in the Kunshan plant in Jiangsu killed 75 people. The explosion is a safety accident caused by dust encountering an open flame.

On June 27, 2015, a dust explosion in Taiwan amusement park injured 516 people, including 4 mainland women ^[11] .

On September 9, 2016, a flour explosion in an incineration plant in Benin killed nearly 100 people ^[12]