Effect of Weathering of Coal and Organic Dusts on Their Spontaneous Ignition

Weathering of coal and other cellulosic dusts occur due to the process of wetting and subsequent drying, or by subjecting them to a temperature higher than the ambient temperature for prolonged time periods. The first type of weathering occurs in a wetted storage. The second type of weathering occurs when a dust processing unit stores and maintains the dust deposit at an elevated temperature. As a result of weathering, the physical and thermal properties of the dust may change. Therefore, the weathered dust sample is expected to ignite at a different hot plate temperature as compared to that of a fresh sample, when tested in a standard test method (ASTM E 2021). In this study, three dust samples namely, wheat flour, Pittsburgh seam coal and powder river basin coal, are tested. These dust samples are subjected to one or both types of weathering. Thermogravimetric analysis and standard ignition tests are carried out with both fresh and weathered dust samples. Estimation of the activation energies and reactivity, and measurement of the minimum surface temperature for the onset of ignition have been carried out for all the cases. The implications of the observed results on industrial safety related to combustible dust layers are discussed.