Sunflower dust properties that contribute to increased fire risk during harvest and biorefinery operations
2013
Polin, Joseph P. | Gu, Zhengrong | Humburg, Daniel | Dalsted, Kevin
Ignition hazards of biomass dust present challenges in the agricultural industry and future biorefinery processing. Thermochemical and biochemical conversion processes require reducing biomass particle sizes through milling or grinding stages that may generate excess airborne dust.Ignition properties of potential energy crop residues, namely, corn stover and sunflower stalks, were investigated by conducting ignition point experiments using dust layer samples to describe conditions that could start fires leading to loss of feedstock, equipment damage, and even personal injury or death. Sunflowers in particular possess unique properties that present increased challenges for farmers in which sunflower dust samples were found to have a lower auto-ignition point by 30°C than comparable corn stover dust samples. Furthermore, the dust ignition points are related to their physical characteristics and calorimetric data to investigate the properties that contribute to the enhanced fire risk of sunflowers. The results suggest sunflower's higher surface area allows greater heat transfer to the particle, and its total pore volume allows additional air near the particle's inner core to decrease the ignition point. Calorimetric data indicates sunflower dust also has a lower de-volatilization point and higher amount of energy released during early stages of combustion, which may also explain sunflower's tendency to easily propagate dust fires. Sunflower dusts exhibit properties that increase the likelihood of fires on any equipment that has sufficiently hot surfaces.
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