Hazards Analysis, Code Compliance & Procedure Development

Services to identify process safety hazards and facilitate compliance with established standards and codes.

Combustible Dust Testing

Laboratory testing to quantify dust explosion and reactivity hazards

Flammable Gas & Vapor Testing

Laboratory testing to quantify explosion hazards for vapor and gas mixtures

Chemical Reactivity Testing

Laboratory testing to quantify reactive chemical hazards, including the possibility of material incompatibility, instability, and runaway chemical reactions

ISO Accreditation and Scope
Fauske & Associates fulfills the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025:2017 in the field of Testing
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 safety handle the effluent discharge from an overpressure event

Thermal Stability

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

UN-DOT

Classification of hazardous materials subject to shipping and storage regulations

Safety Data Sheets

Develop critical safety data for inclusion in SDS documents

Biological

Model transport of airborne virus aerosols to guide safe operations and ventilation upgrades

Radioactive

Model transport of contamination for source term and leak path factor analysis

Fire Analysis

Model transport of heat and smoke for fire analysis

Flammable or Toxic Gas

transport of flammable or toxic gas during a process upset

OSS consulting, adiabatic & reaction calorimetry and consulting

Onsite safety studies can help identify explosibility and chemical reaction hazards so that appropriate testing, simulations, or calculations are identified to support safe scale up

Mechanical, Piping, and Electrical

Engineering and testing to support safe plant operations and develop solutions to problems in heat transfer, fluid flow, electric power systems

Battery Safety

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

Hydrogen Safety

Testing and consulting on the explosion risks associated with devices and processes which use or produce hydrogen

Spent Fuel

Safety analysis for packaging, transport, and storage of spent nuclear fuel

Decommissioning, Decontamination and Remediation (DD&R)

Safety analysis to underpin decommissioning process at facilities which have produced or used radioactive nuclear materials

Laboratory Testing & Software Capabilities

Bespoke testing and modeling services to validate analysis of DD&R processes

Nuclear Overview

Our Nuclear Services Group is recognized for comprehensive evaluations to help commercial nuclear power plants operate efficiently and stay compliant.

Severe Accident Analysis and Risk Assessment

Expert analysis of possible risk and consequences from nuclear plant accidents

Thermal Hydraulics

Testing and analysis to ensure that critical equipment will operate under adverse environmental conditions

Environmental Qualification (EQ) and Equipment Survivability (ES)

Testing and analysis to ensure that critical equipment will operate under adverse environmental conditions

Laboratory Testing & Software Capabilities

Testing and modeling services to support resolution of emergent safety issues at a power plant

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.

Recent Posts

Dust Explosions: Have you determined combustibility or explosibility?

Posted by The Fauske Team on 09.11.18

Have you determined the combustibility or explosibility hazards of your material? If not, take the steps necessary to characterize your dust:

Dust collector equipmentCollect at least 500 to 1000 g or 1 1/2 to 2 lbs of sample per instructions supplied by your dust hazards testing laboratory. Once received, your lab should conduct a:

  • Combustible Dust Screening Test -Determines if your dust could burn in a pile and, or a
  • Explosibility Screening Test or Go/No Go Screening - Determines if your dust is explosible in a cloud

If explosible, consider the following tests:

  • Explosibility Severity Test (KSt and Pmax) - Used for explosion protection
  • Minimum Explosible Concentration (MEC) - Used for explosion avoidance
  • Minimum Ignition Energy (MIE) - Used for ignition avoidance
  • Minimum Autoignition Temperature (MIT) - Avoidance from hot surfaces or hot environments

If KSt < 50

  • 1m3 Challenge Test for Low KSt Results

Is the material covered by one of the exemptions in Section 1.3.3 of NFPA 652?

1) Storage or use of consumer quantities of such materials on the premises of residential or office occupancies

2) Storage or use of commercially packaged materials at residential facilities

3) Such materials displayed in original packaging in mercantile occupancies and intended for personal or household use or as building materials

4) Warehousing of sealed containers of such materials when not associated with an operation that handles or generated combustible dust 5) Such materials stored or used in farm buildings or similar occupancies for on-premises agricultural purposes

Minimum Ignition Energy TestWhat is the Dust Hazards Analysis (DHA)? 

NFPA requires that the process owner conduct a Dust Hazard Analysis once you realize that you have an explosible dust. A DHA will identify fire and explosion hazards and determine if there are additional tests or mitigating activities that need to be performed in order to reduce your risks.

If you still are not sure what you need or how to collect your dust for sampling, please contact Fauske & Associates, LLC at info@fauske.com, or 630-323-8750. www.fauske.com

 

Combustible Dust Case Study

 

 

Topics: Combustible Dust, dust explosion, DHA, Combustible Dust Hazards Analysis

cta-bg.jpg

Is My Dust Combustible?

A Flowchart To Help You Decide
Download Now