A Practical Tool for Predicting the Minimum Ignition Energy of Organic Dusts

In the last decades, protection and prevention in the workplace has assumed great relevance. In this context, organic dust explosions represent one of the major risks. Within this frame, the minimum ignition energy (MIE) of a dust occupies a fundamental role for the assessment of the explosibility hazard. At present, the measurement of the MIE is performed using the standard Hartmann apparatus. This approach involves some practical limitations, mainly related to the testing times and costs. This work is focused on developing both a mathematical model capable of describing the main phenomena leading to the ignition of an organic dust inside a Hartmann tube and a simpler procedure for the estimation of the MIE. Such an approach relies on the use of accessible physicochemical properties and simple thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) experiments, coupled with a particle size analysis capable of providing a mean characteristic diameter of the dust. The proposed procedure has been validated by comparison with literature experimental data of minimum ignition energy of several organic dusts, showing a fair agreement among experimental results and model predictions.