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Combustible Dust & Static Electricity Q&A

  •   I need to clean out a paper dust filter (bag house) and have contracted a vacuum truck to do the job for me. Their standard practice is to bond and ground the truck. The plastic hose will have a copper wire duct taped every 5 ft or so to limit static buildup in the hose. Is this sufficient? Will introducing a water spray at the suction inlet reduce the potential for static buildup? Will it reduce the explosive nature of the dust?

    Answered April 27th, 2011 by Expert: Dr. Vahid Ebadat

    The following factors should be considered while conducting the cleaning of combustible paper dust:
    Wrapping the outside surfaces of the standard plastic hose (generally a highly insulting material) with a copper wire would not prevent the buildup of electrostatic charges on the inside surfaces of the hose. Indeed, very energetic electrostatic discharges could result that are capable of igniting most combustible dust cloud atmospheres.
    The use of water spray may prevent the accumulation of electrostatic charges on the inside surfaces of the hose if all the surfaces are adequately wetted and the wet surfaces are in contact with electrical ground at all times. An adequate water spray may also render the paper dust particles non-combustible. However, one may end up with electrostatically charged isolated wet surfaces (patches) that could produce energetic sparks if the water spray is inadequate or intermittent.
    I suggest that you consider using an electrically grounded conductive or static dissipative hose or performing a dust explosion hazard assessment on the operation with the objective of identifying, assessing, and controlling dust cloud explosion hazards throughout the operation.

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