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Thermal and electrical ignitability of dust clouds.

Conti-RS; Cashdollar-KL; Hertzberg-M; Liebman-I

USBM 1983; :1-40

10003092

The Bureau of Mines conducted a comprehensive laboratory study of the thermal ignitability of various carbonaceous dust clouds with particular emphasis on various ranks of coal dust. The tests were conducted using a new 1.2-L furnace. Autoignition temperatures of dust clouds were obtained as a function of coal volatility and particle size. Dust particles and gas samples were collected by a rapid-sampling system in order to study the reactions involved in preignition and postignition processes. The autoignition temperatures measured in the new 1.2-L furnace were significantly lower and therefore more conservative than those measured previously in the Godbert-Greenwald furnace. The combined effects of thermal and electrical ignition of dust clouds were also studied in the 1.2- L furnace using electrical discharges of varying energies at ambient and elevated temperatures. The minimum spark energy necessary to ignite a dust cloud decreased significantly as the temperature of the dust cloud increased.

19830101

IH; Report of Investigations

1983

RI-8798

PRC

U.S. Bureau of Mines

PA