Combustible Dust Testing

Laboratory testing to quantify dust explosion and reactivity hazards

Safety Data Sheets

Develop critical safety data for inclusion in SDS documents

Gas and Vapor

Laboratory testing to quantify explosion hazards for vapor and gas mixtures

UN-DOT
Classification of hazardous materials subject to shipping and storage regulations
Hydrogen
Testing and consulting on the explosion risks associated with devices and processes which use or produce hydrogen
Safety Data Sheets

Develop critical safety data for inclusion in SDS documents

Thermal Stability

Safe storage or processing requires an understanding of the possible hazards associated with sensitivity to variations in temperature

Adiabatic Calorimetry
Data demonstrate the consequences of process upsets, such as failed equipment or improper procedures, and guide mitigation strategies including Emergency Relief System (ERS) design
Reaction Calorimetry
Data yield heat and gas removal requirements to control the desired process chemistry
Battery Safety

Testing to support safe design of batteries and electrical power backup facilities particularly to satisfy UL9540a ed.4

Safety Data Sheets

Develop critical safety data for inclusion in SDS documents

Cable Testing
Evaluate electrical cables to demonstrate reliability and identify defects or degradation
Equipment Qualification (EQ)
Testing and analysis to ensure that critical equipment will operate under adverse environmental conditions
Water Hammer
Analysis and testing to identify and prevent unwanted hydraulic pressure transients in process piping
Acoustic Vibration
Identify and eliminate potential sources of unwanted vibration in piping and structural systems
Gas & Air Intrusion
Analysis and testing to identify and prevent intrusion of gas or air in piping systems
ISO/IEC 17025:2017

Fauske & Associates fulfills the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025:2017 in the field of Testing

ISO 9001:2015
Fauske & Associates fulfills the requirements of ISO 9001:2015
Dust Hazards Analysis
Evaluate your process to identify combustible dust hazards and perform dust explosion testing
On-Site Risk Management
On-site safety studies can help identify explosibility and chemical reaction hazards so that appropriate testing, simulations, or calculations are identified to support safe scale up
DIERS Methodology
Design emergency pressure relief systems to mitigate the consequences of unwanted chemical reactivity and account for two-phase flow using the right tools and methods
Deflagrations (Dust/Vapor/Gas)

Properly size pressure relief vents to protect your processes from dust, vapor, and gas explosions

Effluent Handling

Pressure relief sizing is just the first step and it is critical to safely handle the effluent discharge from an overpressure event

FATE™ & Facility Modeling

FATE (Facility Flow, Aerosol, Thermal, and Explosion) is a flexible, fast-running code developed and maintained by Fauske and Associates under an ASME NQA-1 compliant QA program.

Mechanical, Piping, and Electrical
Engineering and testing to support safe plant operations and develop solutions to problems in heat transfer, fluid, flow, and electric power systems
Hydrogen Safety
Testing and consulting on the explosion risks associated with devices and processes which use or produce hydrogen
Thermal Hydraulics
Testing and analysis to ensure that critical equipment will operate under adverse environmental conditions
Nuclear Safety
Our Nuclear Services Group is recognized for comprehensive evaluations to help commercial nuclear power plants operate efficiently and stay compliant
Radioactive Waste
Safety analysis to underpin decomissioning process at facilities which have produced or used radioactive nuclear materials
Adiabatic Safety Calorimeters (ARSST and VSP2)

Low thermal inertial adiabatic calorimeters specially designed to provide directly scalable data that are critical to safe process design

Other Lab Equipment and Parts for the DSC/ARC/ARSST/VSP2 Calorimeters

Products and equipment for the process safety or process development laboratory

FERST

Software for emergency relief system design to ensure safe processing of reactive chemicals, including consideration of two-phase flow and runaway chemical reactions

FATE

Facility modeling software mechanistically tracks transport of heat, gasses, vapors, and aerosols for safety analysis of multi-room facilities

Blog

Our highly experienced team keeps you up-to-date on the latest process safety developments.

Process Safety Newsletter

Stay informed with our quarterly Process Safety Newsletters sharing topical articles and practical advice.

Resources

With over 40 years of industry expertise, we have a wealth of process safety knowledge to share.

Published April 3, 2014

Combustible Dust Basics, Part 2: What Testing Do I Need?

MIE ChamberBy Zach Hachmeister, Director of Operations, Fauske & Associates, LLC

A large majority of our clients seek out dust explosion testing for two reasons – one, to obtain data specifically for the installation/modification of equipment and two, for compliance purposes.  Regardless of the driving factor, the first step in this exercise is to identify if your material in question is indeed combustible.  In the first part of our series, "Combustible Dust Basics, Part 1: What does a Go/No-Go Test Mean?", we discussed how this can be achieved through conducting a screening test, or Go/No-Go test, on a representative sample of the material.  If the test result indicates that the material is combustible, two other general questions should come to mind:  1) How bad can it be and 2) under what circumstances can my dust combust? 

Question 1: How bad/energetic can it be?

The folks seeking data for the installation or modification of equipment are often most interested in the “how bad can it be?” aspect and want to know the KSt and Pmax values for their material.  The KSt is deflagration index of a dust cloud (the maximum rate of pressure rise normalized to a cubic meter) and the Pmax is maximum overpressure.  These two parameters are used to quantify how energetic a dust explosion of a given material can be and can be ascertained through an Explosion Severity Test.  The reason people are interested in this data is so they can incorporate a mitigation strategy, such as explosion relief venting, into the design of the equipment that is capable of handling the full explosive potential of the dust.

Question 2: Under what circumstances can my dust combust?

We are also frequently contacted by people who are seeking data for compliance purposes.  Often this is at the urging of an AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction).  It might be OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), a building inspector, insurance companies, fire departments - or just the building owner, upper management and other employees.  In addition to the Explosions Severity test, these inquires usually include a variety of other tests such as Minimum Ignition Energy (MIE) and Minimum Autoignition Temperature (MIT).  The goal of obtaining this additional data is to allow for a better understanding of the risks associated with handling the material in question.  By having an understanding of the ignition energies, temperatures, and concentration of dusts you can identify and address areas within the process that are more susceptible to an explosion event. 

Fauske & Associates, LLC (FAI) offers a wide range of services related to characterizing, preventing and mitigating combustible dust explosion and fire hazards. These services include combustible dust testing, onsite assessments, OSHA compliance assistance, audit preparation, training, ignition source evaluation and vent sizing calculations.  Testing is completed on-site in our state of the art dust testing facility per ISO 17025 guidelines.  A portion of the testing services we offer is shown in the table below.

If you are in the process of characterizing your dust, upgrading your existing dust collection system, or planning on investing on a new one, contact us for an analysis of your dust and application. Representative dust samples for the application must be gathered in a very specific way.  For more help, read "How To Collect and Ship Combustible Dust Samples For Testing" or contact us first for instructions and authorization.

Look for our final installment of this 3-part series next week with "Combustible Dust Basics, Part 3:  What is Overdriving?"  
 
 

 

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