A Comprehensive Approach to Dust Explosion Risk Reduction

粉尘爆炸是一种持续不断的工业事故，它继续对人造成伤害，对设备和建筑物造成损害，因工艺停机和随后的商业活动中断而造成经济损失，并使自然环境退化。采取适当措施防止粉尘爆炸并保护工人和设施不受此类事件后果的影响，在伦理、道德、法律和财务方面都有很强的说服力。这项建议中描述的研究计划旨在帮助确保加拿大和世界各地的工业企业在储存、加工和运输可燃颗粒材料方面更安全地运营。研究将在三个主题下进行：(I)危险表征，(Ii)基本理解，(Iii)和创新的风险降低技术。这些研究主题相辅相成，共同提供粉尘爆炸危险和减少风险措施的知识库，并将有效地传达给全球研究和工业实践界。要研究的具体燃料/空气系统是：(I)纳米材料(纤维素纳米晶)，(Ii)生物质(粗木)，(Iii)絮凝材料(低密度聚乙烯)，(Iv)混合混合物(低密度聚乙烯和碳氢化合物气体)，以及(V)可轻微爆炸的粉尘(铁)。这些系统被称为“非传统”，因为它们并不代表存在于可燃粉尘球形颗粒上的既定知识体系。因此，有必要对这些非传统的危险燃料/空气系统进行深入和创新的研究。参与拟议项目的研究人员包括五名本科生、四名硕士学生和两名博士生。虽然正在进行个别项目，但将强调以团队为基础的方法，以便在整个各种研究活动中培养补充实验、建模和分析技术技能的技能。因此，一批高素质的人员将接受与加拿大工业、学术界和政府劳动力相关的技能培训。该计划内进行的研究对加拿大最重要的好处将是保护其公民免受工业粉尘爆炸的生命威胁。这项工作有可能对如何看待粉尘爆炸的研究需求以及如何预防和减轻工业粉尘爆炸产生重大影响。

Dust explosions are a persistent industrial occurrence that continue to cause harm to people, damage to equipment and buildings, economic loss from process downtime and the subsequent interruption in business activities, and degradation of the natural environment. There are strong ethical, moral, legal and financial arguments for taking appropriate steps to prevent dust explosions from happening and to protect workers and facilities from the consequences of such events. The research program described in this proposal is aimed at helping to ensure safer operation of industrial enterprises in Canada and worldwide with respect to the storage, processing and transportation of combustible particulate materials.Research will be conducted under three themes: (i) hazard characterization, (ii) fundamental understanding, (iii) and innovative risk reduction techniques. These research themes are complementary and work together to provide a knowledge base of dust explosion hazards and risk reduction measures that will be effectively communicated to the global research and industrial practice communities. The specific fuel/air systems to be investigated are: (i) nanomaterials (cellulose nanocrystals), (ii) biomass (torrefied wood), (iii) flocculent materials (low-density polyethylene), (iv) hybrid mixtures (low-density polyethylene and hydrocarbon gases), and (v) marginally explosible dusts (iron). These systems are termed "non-traditional" in that they are not representative of the established body of knowledge that exists for spherical particles of combustible dust. There is therefore a need for intensive and innovative studies of these non-traditional hazardous fuel/air systems.The research personnel to be engaged in the proposed program include five undergraduate co-op students, four Master's students, and two PhD candidates. Although individual projects are being pursued, a team-based approach will be emphasized to create exposure to skills supplementary to the experimental, modelling and analytical technical skills to be developed throughout the various research activities. A body of highly qualified personnel will thus be trained in skills relevant to the Canadian workforce in industry, academia and government.The most important benefit to Canada of the research to be undertaken within this program will be the protection of its citizens from the life-threatening effects of industrial dust explosions. This work has the potential to have a significant impact on how research needs with respect to dust explosions are viewed, and how the prevention and mitigation of dust explosions in industry are approached.