Conductive drums prevent dust explosions
Marc Martens
Dust-related fires and explosions impact a range of industries and have devastating and irreversible effects. Every year, 1000s of explosions worldwide cause numerous fatalities, even more injuries and property loss.
Dust explosions occur when an ignition source ignites combustible organic material that is fuelled with oxygen in a closed atmosphere. This can take place inside a silo, process or storage enclosure, or even in pulverising or grinding process equipment. It takes only milliseconds for a violent explosion to occur and destroy your entire operations.
Explosion protection solutions
There is a myriad of explosion protection solutions available and they are effective when handling the majority of organic dusts originating from powder handling. Among them are portable bulk containers because they are increasingly used for the storage and transport of combustible materials. The use of (earthed) conductive containers is highly recommended to avoid ignition during powder handling caused by electrical discharge.
Secure and cost effective bulk containers
Raw materials with high conductivity like stainless steel or metal are often an effective solution but also expensive and heavy. CurTec has developed a safe, secure and cost-effective alternative: plastic conductive drums.
Conductive drums eliminate the risk of ignition through electrical discharge and can prevent the terrible effects of dust explosions to people, property and the environment: (fatal) injuries, cost of repair and rebuild, damage claims and raised insurance premiums. But also the damage to your company’s image and brand. Apart from increasing the safety of your entire production facility, they will also raise your customer’s sense of security.
Additional benefits
Apart from avoiding direct consequences there are other benefits in using plastic conductive drums:
- The screw lid with rubber gasket protects against moisture ingress and prevents product loss
- They are light-weight which helps lowering transport costs and makes them easier to handle
- Their UN-X certification makes them impact-resistant
- They are not only available in large but also small capacities which can offer ergonomic benefits
- The screw lid closure and handgrips make them easy to handle
- They cannot dent, rust or oxidate which helps avoid contamination
Propellant powders safely protected
Among CurTec’s valued customers are companies producing propellant powders which are not only highly flammable and explosive, because of its main component nitrocellulose, but also hygroscopic. Any contact with moisture leads to lump formation and prevents these gun powders from proper performing.
Traditionally, propellant powders were packed in fibre drums with dissipative aluminium PE liners which offered insufficient protection against water ingress and affected their service life and reliability.
CurTec’s plastic conductive drums were chosen because they combined a low surface resistivity with a proper barrier against moisture and a UN-X certification. In this case, conductive drums not only provide safety and security during powder production and handling but also guarantee the safe and intended performance of the propellants at all time.
Current applications not only include chemicals such as propellants, charge components and explosives but also pharmaceuticals like APIs. If you are not sure if plastic conductive drums can help improve the safety of your supply chain, please contact us. We will counsel you.
