Whats wood flour used for?

[flh801978]

Re the terrible explosion at the mill in cheshire my thoughts to all those involved

What wood flour? and what is it used for?

 

[Mike.S]

I also wondered what is was. One article said it was used in the manufacture of laminate wood flooring. Is it just a euphemism for sawdust?

 

[mseries]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_flour

 

[CHJ]

A very tragic incident but hopefully the impact of the media reporting will not be lost on other workers in both the wood industry and other fine organic dust creating mills.

Whatever was the trigger, assuming forensics can determine it, hopefully at least the failure points in the old works design can be identified so that any such incidents can be better contained.

I know I only ever thoughtlessly dumped the dust from an extractor bin on an open bonfire fire once.

 

[finneyb]

Explosions is dusty atmospheres are a well know hazard. ' Dust explosions occur when fine materials are disbursed to a certain concentration and an effective ignition source is present. If dust deposits around premises form a cloud an initial small explosion is often followed by a much larger one ...' HSE http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2003/e03221.htm

Ignition sources - while a lot can and is done by using explosion proof fittings on electrical equipment, static discharges are also a source. I wonder if any maintenance or breakdown repair was underway.

If the workplace is dusty, the first small explosion dislodges the dust from the rafters and then the big explosion takes place.

Brian

 

[Mike.S]

Will any dust explode or just organic dust e.g. baking flour, wood sawdust?

 

[stevep]

Any dust has the potential to explode.

 

[SPSlick]

Mythbusters did a show on this and the biggest explosion was from coffee creamer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRw4ZRqmxOc

 

[jimmy_s]

Coffee creamer is a good fuel, when dispersed in air can be pretty explosive.

Most Businesses dealing with fine particulates such as flour, wood flour and even oat flakes are very aware of the risks and take great care to minimise this. Lighting may be sealed, electric motors may be explosion proof, control panels are kept away from high risk areas etc.

I would imagine the HSE will be examining what's left of the building pretty closely.

 

[CHJ]

Any dust has the potential to explode.

No so in normal atmosphere.
Having spent several hours down a coal mine in Coalville Leicestershire where they were deliberately spraying stone dust into the up drift in such density that you could not see more than a couple of yards in order to neutralize the coal dust which had explosive potential, i would say the stone dust must have been inert.

What it was doing to the lungs of the Miners who declined to use any form of the supplied masks is another matter. No worse than the gypsum plaster used to seal the fallen debrise/void behind the Doughty Face shields I guess, which they threw about in gay abandon and split open on the floor as often as they made it into the mixing vat.

 

[finneyb]

The dust needs to be combustible ie will burn. But a lot of dusts surprisingly are eg flour, coffee creamer from the above post , custard powder, wood is obviously combustible .

The reason it explodes is that the particles being very small have a large surface area, when the particle ignites it burns fiercely for a short time, much like a grinding spark. Put a lot of these particles together ie in an ignited dust cloud and you have a problem. Put the same amount of particles that are in the dust cloud in a single mass and it probably wouldn't even ignite no matter how hard you tried.

Brian

 

[No skills]

I think its the same rough principal as fuel air bombs, fine fuel dispersed into oxygen rich atmosphere plus an ignitor = massive explosion.

Tragic of course, hope the cause is discovered.

 

[Tom K]

Thought to have started the Great Fire of London according to some. Flour dust in that case.

 

[Benchwayze]

Any dust has the potential to explode.

I'm not so sure Steve.

I thought the material the dust consisted of had to be a flammable material for it to explode. For instance asbestos dust. (I know we don't see much of it these days, but it wouldn't burn. I could be wrong of course.
John :mrgreen:

 

[dickm]

To be technical, isn't it the case that any dust that will oxidise exothermicaly could cause an explosion if dispersed in air? So even though iron is difficult to burn, iron dust will certainly give off heat by oxidation when exposed to air (you can get handwarmers that work on that principle) so might also explode?
But stone dust is mostly silicate, already in the most highly oxidised form, so would not burn/explode. Guessing it's the same for asbestos or gypsum dust.

 

[Benchwayze]

Yes Dick.. Noted thanks.

I have burned fine wire wool in the past. It doesn't burn as such, but it does reach red heat and crumbles into the finest rouge, used for polishing. (From my days of making a reflecting telescope.) That sponge inside my head needs wringing out I think! :lol:


John