Dust Testing Methods and Process
The Combustion Test Lab provides empirical evidence to factories, chemical plants, grain elevators, paper mills and more about the explosibility characteristics of their facility’s dust. Our testing may come in small-scale (20 liter) or world-standard large-scale (1 m3) chambers, both of which are designed to provide accurate measurements that represent real-world, industrial-sized applications. Steps of combustible dust testing include:
Contact Fike
Contact Fike’s Combustion Test Lab about your facility and types of processed dust.
Collect and Ship
Collect and ship a sample of your facility’s dust to the Combustion Test Lab.
Receive Report
In as few as two weeks, receive an ASTM- and CEN-standard report that details the dust’s explosive properties.
Support Products
This data may be used to support explosion protection product integration into your facility.
Types of Combustible Dust and Tests
The Combustion Test Lab tests a wide variety of dusts, including but not limited to:
- Metals
- Plastics
- Polymers
- Organics
- Chemicals
- Grain
- Coal
- PVC
- Sugar
- Coffee
- Starch
- Paper
- Wood
- Sulfur
Our combustible dust tests
- Explosibility Screening Test (20 L and 1 m3) – determines potential for combustion.
- Dust Explosibility Test (20 L and 1 m3) – determines Pmax, dp/dtmax, and KST; measures potential explosion severity of a fuel-air mixture.
- Limiting Oxidant Concentration – determines limiting oxidant concentration at elevated temperature and pressure.
- Minimum Ignition Energy for Dusts – determines lowest spark energy required to initiate a dust explosion; assesses relative sensitivity of the sample to ignition by electrical sparks.
- Minimum Dust Layer Ignition Temperatures – determines minimum temperature at which a dust layer will ignite when exposed to a heated surface; provides a relative measure of dust ignitability.
- Particle Size Analysis – determines particle size distribution of test sample along with statistical measurements (mean, median and mode).
You May be Storing Combustible Dusts – NFPA 652 Compliance
The new combustible dust standard NFPA 652 mandated full compliance by October 2018. Are you compliant to the new code?
The first step toward compliance of NFPA 652 is to perform a combustible dust test of your facility’s processing dust. If the results are positive, a dust hazard analysis (DHA) is then required, which will identify the most susceptible equipment and effective solutions.
