Why Does Flour Explode? — The History of Dust Explosions

Comments · 7

• JO

  @johnj4860 · 3 days ago

  One guy in the starch industry as part of a new recruits induction training used to sit them at a lab bench with a Bunsen burner alight on the bench. He would say dust can explode all too easily  immediately following the words he would blow a small amount of starch dust from his hand at the flame. The lesson stuck in the recruits mind

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• RO

  @royedmundson3833 · 4 days ago (edited)

  joineries, coal mines and flour mills have an ancient history of dust explosions back past Roman times. If the air is fully loaded with inflamable dust then the explosive force per cubic meter can be as high as 1kg of TNT. Some of the largest explosions are easily over 100 tons of TNT,  nearly as bad as a  military ammunition dump explosion. The possibility of a dust explosion is the reason many joineries are single story  buildings  and with a flimsy corrugated iron roof.  If there's an explosion the roof is easily blown off without doing structural damage to the  building. This is what happened to a friends joinery, lucky no one hurt.

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• DA

  @dang48 · 2 days ago

  Dust explosions are very dangerous. &nbsp;The Imperial Sugar refinery in Georgia had an explosion in 2008 from the accumulation of sugar dust.<br>Section 5.10 of the Ontario Fire Code covers combustible dust.

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• JO

  @johnj4860 · 3 days ago

  There was a starch modification plant on the docks at Goole in the UK &nbsp;the process produced dextrine gum by a starch roasting process. The plant roof was constructed of lightweight material with the reasoning any explosion would not be contained and could safely vent upwards

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• RS

  @rsdavies6088 · 3 days ago

  I worked at a powder coaters, fine plastic dust appied by electrostatic guns, then fused to the metal in kilns, static discharges were a regular(several times an hour) occurrence powder that escaped the spray booths collected on everything we spent a weekend each year sweeping everything

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• GR

  @gragor11 · 3 days ago (edited)

  I&apos;m sure that there was a dust explosive component to the Beirut ANFO blast that never gets mentioned. &nbsp;Many times I&apos;ve watched the slow motion videos of the shock wave enveloping the area wondering which component was from the grain elevators along side the warehouse that detonated..

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• DA

  @davidjackson2115 · 4 days ago (edited)

  I was laughing as you were saying you need five elements - &nbsp;because i was thinking one of those essential elements you need &nbsp;&quot;is an ignorant person / &nbsp;or ignorant people&quot; &nbsp;into the mix. &nbsp;Very essential. &nbsp; ....Agr &nbsp;complacency is a better word, the child of ignorance.

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