Everything you need to know about explosion safety

Explosion isolation

In a production facility the individual parts of the plant are always connected by pipelines. The purpose of explosion isolation is to ensure that the pressure and the flames cannot propagate. This ensures that any adjoining parts of the plant are protected. A distinction is made between active and passive isolation systems.

An active system is alerted to an explosion at an early stage, when an explosion begins to develop. This is done through sensors or detectors that register the rise in pressure or the formation of flames, responding by activating the relevant isolator, for example a quench valve.

Passive isolation, on the other hand, responds purely mechanically to the spreading or loss of pressure, on account of its structural characteristics. This also applies to explosion valves. Under normal operation, an explosion valve in a pipeline is kept open by the available flow. When an explosion occurs, the valve is closed by the spreading of the pressure front, thus effectively preventing the pressure and the flames from propagating any further.

Explosion suppression

In addition to the methods mentioned in each part of this three part article, another constructional precaution is explosion suppression. This means eliminating the explosion at its very onset. This is made possible by detectors that register the presence of sparks or flames through sensors and immediately trigger the opening of tanks containing an extinguishing agent (also installed in the system). A highly effective extinguishing agent is released within milliseconds, nipping the explosion in the bud straightaway. If required, an explosion suppression system can also be used for explosion isolation purposes.

REMBE provides customers in all industries with safety systems for their plants and equipment.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/special-reports/31122018/everything-you-need-to-know-about-explosion-safety/