Dust explosion of an ABS plant

摘要

A severe dust explosion occurred in the silos area of an acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) plant.A total of six silos that containing powders were exploded sequentially.The powders were polystyrene-acrylonitrile (SAN) and ABS powders containing low and high content of polybutadiene latex (PBL).All the top plates and bag-filters of the silos flew away in various directions.Chemical runaway or dust explosions are possible causes for the destruction of the silos assemblies.The thermal hazard from the oxidation of PBL segments in ABS powder was excluded by thermal analysis using the BSC and VSP II calorimeters from the time history,residual analysis,fragments of explosion,and burning behavior on the dust layer after explosion.A dust explosion was concluded where the bulked brush discharging was the possible ignition source for the successive dust explosions.The TNT equivalent and the consequences of the explosions were performed and compared by the recorded situations in the silos region.