No doubt -- coal dust is combustible and when airborne, it is explosive. The U.S. Bureau of Mines was established (since disbanded) in response to explosions in coal mines. There is a seam of coal in Pennsylvania near the former BuMines lab in Pittsburgh that became the standard for calibrating their dust explosion testing equipment, known as the Hartmann Tube. The ash left after burning the coal would, as several have pointed out, be non-combustible. There is suppression equipment for dust explosions. The detection is either based on rate of rise of pressure, typically for enclosed processes, or spark detection for open areas. Then squib-loaded devices are fired and disperse suppression agent (water, or dry chem, or maybe gas) into the combustion zone. All happens in milli-seconds. Much research done by BuMines on this. Several mfrs provide equipment.
Dave David A. de Vries, P.E., CSP Firetech Engineering Incorporated --- On Thu, 2/24/11, Stewart Kidd <[email protected]> wrote: From: Stewart Kidd <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Fertilizer Plant To: [email protected], [email protected] Date: Thursday, February 24, 2011, 1:36 AM This is a possibility - it's known as fly ash and can be used for landfill and as a building material for constructing what we call breeze blocks (cinder blocks in the US ?) I'd certainly consider this to be effective non combustible. Stewart On 24 Feb 2011, at 02:27, Andy Johnston wrote: > Could they be talking about the cinders left as spoil after coal is burnt? > The information contained in this transmission is privileged and > confidential. No reader may make any use of it's contents with out the > written approval of the sender. The recipient should not act or use the > information in this transmission or any of its attachments without separate > authentication of its authenticity or approval. If you have received this in > error I apologize please notify me so I can correct my records. Thank you for > your cooperation. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Stewart Kidd <[email protected]> > Sender: [email protected] > Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2011 22:42:15 > To: <[email protected]> > Reply-To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Fertilizer Plant > > Coal is crushed in power stations by ball mills and is then blown into > boilers by forced draft fans to be burnt like oil. I spent 10 years in power > gen and used to be a member of NFPA 850 and I have never heard of non > combustible coal. > > The coal which someone mentioned as being spontaneously combustible is, I > think, known in the US as Powder River Coal. Bulk coal carriers often > experience spontaneous heating of coal in their holds on long transits - > usually caused by moisture content. > > Agree sprinklers will not stop explosions - after withdrawal of halon 1301 I > 'd like to hear what will. Any number of explosions in grain, flour and > sugar silos every year - these can be disastrous. > > Stewart > On 23 Feb 2011, at 22:20, A.P.Silva wrote: > >> They claim the coal is crushed to powder form before being brought into the >> building, and that the powdered coal has been tested to be non-combustible. >> I'm waiting for the report. >> >> Tony >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: [email protected] >> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of njarendt >> tds.net >> Sent: February 23, 2011 2:43 PM >> To: [email protected] >> Subject: Re: Fertilizer Plant >> >> Never heard of coal dust being noncombustible. We have employees up in the >> mines and it is combustible and explosive per them. >> >> Norm >> >> On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 3:41 PM, A.P.Silva <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Coal dust is used in a process to manufacture fertilizer, in a 40,000 >>> sq.ft. >>> building, about 28 feet high. The issue is whether the building has to >>> be sprinklered. The owner claims the coal is non-combustible and thus >>> the building occupancy is low hazard industrial, in which case it >>> would not have to be sprinklered. Anyone can comment on the occupancy? >>> >>> Tony >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Sprinklerforum mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum >>> >>> For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] >>> >>> To Unsubscribe, send an email >>> to:[email protected] >>> (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> Norman Arendt, CHS III, CMAS, PhD, CFEII President Infragard Madison Members >> Alliance Middleton Fire District Plan Reviewer and Investigator PCII and CVI >> Certified _______________________________________________ >> Sprinklerforum mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum >> >> For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] >> >> _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
