Combustible Dust in the Bioenergy Industry
The growing bioenergy industry offers new risks for combustible dust events. Fortunately, SonicAire's combustible dust solutions are a perfect fit to solve these challenges.
The Hazards of Combustible Dust in the Bioenergy Industry
What Types of Bioenergy Dust are Combustible? How Big of a Risk Is It?
Many types of bioenergy dust are highly combustible, posing serious fire and explosion risks. Wood dust, biomass pellets, agricultural waste, and other processed organic materials commonly found in bioenergy facilities can become hazardous when suspended in the air. The level of risk depends on factors such as particle size and type, concentration, and ignition sources within the facility.
Are There Any Examples of Combustion Events Stemming from Bioenergy Dust?
Combustible dust explosions in bioenergy facilities have resulted in significant property damage, injuries, and fatalities. Notable incidents include plant explosions caused by accumulated wood dust or finely powdered biomass igniting due to static discharge or overheating equipment. These tragedies highlight the importance of dust control measures in bioenergy processing plants.
What is the Best Way to Manage Combustible Dust in Bioenergy Facilities?
SonicAire has spent decades perfecting dust control fans that don’t just react to dust; they actively prevent it from accumulating in hard-to-reach spaces. This proactive approach leads to safer environments, reduced costs, and easier regulatory compliance, all while minimizing the risk of combustible dust explosions.
SonicAire Dust Control Fans simplify fugitive dust management through a structured process. First, key dust control challenges are identified. Next, a customized engineered system is designed for the specific facility. Then, the fans are delivered and can be installed by facility personnel or a qualified contractor. Finally, the result is reliable protection against future dust accumulation.
Click the case study below to see how SonicAire fans completely changed the environment at one plant.
How Can Your Facility Manage Combustible Dust in the Bioenergy Industry?
When it comes to fugitive combustible dust, you have a few options. With bioenergy dust, however, choosing the right solution should be driven by safety. You can remove the dust after it accumulates with blowdown methods, like pressurized air. Of course, that’s difficult to do safely and requires a strict (and often impossible) set of requirements to be within regulations. (See the National Fire Protection Association’s Standard for the Prevention of Fire and Dust Explosions from the Manufacturing, Processing, and Handling of Combustible Particulate Solids NFPA 654, section 8.2.2.4 for the details on requirements and whether it’s even a possibility for your facility).
You could also elect to manually vacuum the dust after it builds up. This option requires a significant workforce and a cyclical cleaning schedule. You may need to shut down your facility’s production while you perform these cleanings. And pulling employees away from their regular tasks hurts your bottom line and may lower employee morale. You could hire an external cleaning crew, but that expense is steep, and you’ll need to keep paying for it, over and over.
The final option is prevention. Taking a proactive approach to combustible dust keeps your facility safe and compliant with dust management every second of every day. You won’t need to stress over the risk of a fire or explosion, and a surprise inspection will never catch you off guard.
No one wants a fire, but the dust created in bioenergy facilities poses an added danger level that requires constant diligence in preventing dust accumulation. Imagine being able to prevent dust from ever accumulating, rather than having to clean it up regularly. This proactive, automated approach is attainable by adding dust control fans to your dust abatement system.
Dust control fans from SonicAire make the prevention of dust build up easy.
For more on your dust control solutions’ effectiveness, check out Ranking Six Combustible Dust Control Measures From Least to Most Effective.
What is a Dust Hazard Analysis?
With years of experience in testing and consulting on combustible dust hazards and nearly a century of operations focusing on safety, DEKRA is an excellent all-around resource for your specialized demands.
Click the video below to watch this conversation and discover the best next steps once you’ve completed your DHA.
How Do SonicAire Fans Prevent Dust Buildup?
SonicAire’s proprietary technology combines two methods to control dust flow.
High-Velocity Airflow
SonicAire’s specialized fans use high-velocity airflow to clean overhead areas. This ultra-powerful airflow effectively prevents the accumulation of combustible dust on overhead structures and provides better dust control for your wood production facility. The technology behind these fans will automate your dust management, operating in the background without any extra thought from you or your employees.
Thermal-Current Control
Typical airflow involves warm air currents naturally rising and lifting dust to overhead structures, where it accumulates quickly. SonicAire’s industrial dust control fans prevent these naturally occurring upward thermal currents from holding dust in the air in the first place. Our fans create an air barrier below the overhead structures so the dust doesn’t rise above them and settle on top. When dust isn’t given free-reign in a facility the air quality will also inevitably improve.
With these unique and efficient approaches, our specialists design a customized plan, especially for your facility, to ensure that the dust accumulation in your facility is kept at a safe, minimal level.
SonicAire can mitigate the danger of combustible dust in your facility; reach out to speak to one of our specialists to get started. We’ll guide you through exactly how to make your workspace as safe as possible from dangerous buildup, while also saving you time and money from manual cleaning, insurance costs, and OSHA fines.
Additional Resources
Learn more about how we helped companies like yours find solutions to their dust problems.
Plastics Industry Overview
Plastic is one of the largest manufacturing industries in the United States, supplying components for a wide range of production. The industry employs nearly one million people and generates $451 billion yearly in shipments.
Demand for plastic components continues to grow, particularly in the automotive industry, where plastics facilitate fuel savings and weight reduction. Plastics are also highly sought after for industrial machinery and consumer goods. Due to plastic’s versatility and durability, the industry is also gaining ground in the medical, military, and construction sectors.
Plastics manufacturing covers a broad spectrum of processes, including:
- Thermoforming
- Transfer Molding
- Reaction Injection Molding
- Compression Molding
- Rotational Molding
- Extrusion
- Vacuum Forming
- Polymer Casting
- CNC Machining
- Plastics Recycling
- Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing)
- Blending
- Bulk Powder
Complimentary Dust Management Plan with ROI Analysis
SonicAire is committed to helping our clients tackle combustible dust in their facilities. We will review your facility specifications and develop a custom analysis of how SonicAire fans can use our BarrierAire™ technology to reduce combustible dust accumulation, improve worker safety and productivity and keep your facility compliant with OSHA and NFPA regulations.
Our analysis will also show you the expected Return on Investment, including equipment investment, estimated annual savings and cumulative cashflow benefit.
Get started by contacting us today for your custom facility review, ROI analysis and fan technology proposal.
