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Fire
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Fire and Explosions Risk in Industrial Processes
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Fire and Explosions Risk in Industrial Processes

A special issue of Fire (ISSN 2571-6255). This special issue belongs to the section "Fire Risk Assessment and Safety Management in Buildings and Urban Spaces".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2024) | Viewed by 12541

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Enrico Danzi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24, 10129 Torino, Italy
Interests: fire safety science; dust explosions; energy; industrial safety
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Almerinda Di Benedetto

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica, Universita' degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II", Napoli, Italy
Interests: explosion/flammability behaviour of of gas, liquid, dust and hybird mixtures; H2 production, storage and safety; CFD models for the simulation of reactive, laminar and turbulent, stationary and non-stationary flows; catalytic micro-reactors; dynamic fire stability; risk assessment
Dr. Maria Portarapillo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical, Materials and Production Engineering, University of Naples "Federico II", Napoli, Italy
Interests: dust and gas explosion science; development of advanced mathematical models (CFDs); industrial safety

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The global challenge constituted by fire and its effect on the human environment is still present although technologies and progress in protection and mitigation are improving. Industrial structures and facilities are those more prone to fire and explosion risk, in particular chemical plants.

The processing industry is associated with high-injury high-frequency accidents, with respect to events in civilian buildings, while major episodes also occurred in industrial plants, such as the recent Beirut harbor explosion (2020) and Kaohsiung gas explosions (2014). Economic major losses are associated with non-residential premises.

The advance in progress and the rise of emerging technologies, as for energy infrastructures, is critical. In fact, sustainable processes and materials could mislead fire and explosion risk assessment with the paradigm “greener means safer” and “safer means greener”. Fire safety science needs to deal with the enhancing risks posed by the adoption of new technologies (H2, fuels, energy storage, nanomaterials) to investigate their hazard potential and with respect to traditional processes.

I am pleased to invite you to submit your contribution to this Special Issue, which is intended to give an overview of current fire and explosion risk studies and safety data related to the industrial context. This will be published in the Fire journal, including perspectives on fire generating in the industrial landscapes and its interaction with human communities, structural response to fires on industrial premises, and fires from emerging storage technologies (such as batteries).

This Special Issue aims to cover the above-cited themes and both original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas and topics (suggested) may include the followings:

  • Manufacturing plant fire causes, mitigation and protection;
  • Fire risk assessment study for emerging energy storage systems (batteries, metal capacitors, H2 storage);
  • Industrial fire effects on surrounding human environment (interactions with community emergency management, social impact, fire emergency strategy management);
  • Traditional industry (oil and gas, chemicals) emerging fire and explosion risks due to new technologies, new materials (nanomaterials, bio-based materials, metal-polymer composites), external events (war crisis), change in safety management, proximity with high-density population areas (gas networks, hazardous material transportation);
  • Industrial fire and explosion case studies and investigations

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Enrico Danzi
Prof. Dr. Almerinda Di Benedetto
Dr. Maria Portarapillo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fire is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • fire & explosion
  • industrial safety
  • fire safety science
  • fire risk management

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 4066 KiB  
Article
Safety Design Criteria for the Emergency Discharge of Hazardous Substances in Small and Medium-Sized Polystyrene Polymerization Batch Reactor Processes: Case Study of the South Korean Chemical Industry
by Sang-Ryung Kim and Sang-Gil Kim
Fire 2024, 7(7), 260; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire7070260 - 21 Jul 2024
Viewed by 1184
Abstract
In small and medium-sized chemical plants, explosions constantly occur owing to runaway reactions because of equipment defects or human errors and so on. Accordingly, in this study, based on a case study of an explosion accident in a polystyrene reactor in South Korea, [...] Read more.
In small and medium-sized chemical plants, explosions constantly occur owing to runaway reactions because of equipment defects or human errors and so on. Accordingly, in this study, based on a case study of an explosion accident in a polystyrene reactor in South Korea, the dis-charge capacity of hazardous substances during a runaway reaction is reviewed and a method for safely disposing of hazardous substances is proposed. Using an acceleration rate calorimeter, the maximum temperature rise rate during the polystyrene reaction was determined, and it was determined that 355,643 kg/h can flow during a runaway reaction. A 30-inch header size was then selected to consider maximum flow rate, and two 81.4 m2 heat exchangers were selected to completely condense the hazardous substances. As a result, the facilities at the workplace were configured to condense all hazardous substances and discharge them into the atmosphere. If this method is used, it is believed that the lives of workers can be protected by preventing fires and explosions in small and medium-sized chemical plants in which runaway reactions may occur. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fire and Explosions Risk in Industrial Processes)
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14 pages, 16314 KiB  
Article
Study of the Safety Characteristics of Different Types of Pepper Powder (Capsicum L.)
by László Kosár, Zuzana Szabová, Richard Kuracina, Stefan H. Spitzer, Miroslav Mynarz and Bohdan Filipi
Fire 2024, 7(7), 229; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire7070229 - 2 Jul 2024
Viewed by 889
Abstract
This research was aimed at comparing the fire characteristics of different types of pepper in the context of explosion prevention. The following characteristics were studied: explosion pressure Pmax and Kst at selected concentrations, ignition temperature of the deposited dust layer from [...] Read more.
This research was aimed at comparing the fire characteristics of different types of pepper in the context of explosion prevention. The following characteristics were studied: explosion pressure Pmax and Kst at selected concentrations, ignition temperature of the deposited dust layer from the hot surface, and minimum ignition energy. The comparison of the chemical properties of the used types of pepper was performed using TG/DSC. The results of the measurements suggest that different types of peppers exhibit different explosion characteristics. Each sample reached the maximum value of the explosion pressure and rate of pressure rise at different concentrations. The volume of the explosion chamber used also influenced the explosion characteristics. It is a consequence of the fact that the explosion characteristics strongly depend on the mechanism of action of a particular igniter. The minimum effect on the safety characteristics was observed when measuring the minimum ignition energy and the minimum ignition temperature of the dust layer from the hot surface. The results of the measurements suggest that different types of peppers exhibit different explosion characteristics. This information should then be considered in explosion prevention. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fire and Explosions Risk in Industrial Processes)
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23 pages, 6836 KiB  
Article
Simulation Modeling of the Process of Danger Zone Formation in Case of Fire at an Industrial Facility
by Yuri Matveev, Fares Abu-Abed, Olga Zhironkina and Sergey Zhironkin
Fire 2024, 7(7), 221; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire7070221 - 28 Jun 2024
Viewed by 1203
Abstract
Proactive prevention and fighting fire at industrial facilities, often located in urbanized clusters, should include the use of modern methods for modeling danger zones that appear during the spread of the harmful combustion products of various chemicals. Simulation modeling is a method that [...] Read more.
Proactive prevention and fighting fire at industrial facilities, often located in urbanized clusters, should include the use of modern methods for modeling danger zones that appear during the spread of the harmful combustion products of various chemicals. Simulation modeling is a method that allows predicting the parameters of a danger zone, taking into account a number of technological, landscape, and natural-climatic factors that have a certain variability. The purpose of this research is to develop a mathematical simulation model of the formation process of a danger zone during an emergency at an industrial facility, including an explosion of a container with chemicals and fire, with the spread of an aerosol and smoke cloud near residential areas. The subject of this study was the development of a simulation model of a danger zone of combustion gases and its graphical interpretation as a starting point for timely decision making on evacuation by an official. The mathematical model of the process of danger zone formation during an explosion and fire at an industrial facility presented in this article is based on the creation of a GSL library from data on the mass of explosion and combustion products, verification using the Wald test, and the use of algorithms for calculating the starting and ending points of the danger zone for various factor values’ variables, constructing ellipses of the boundaries of the distribution of pollution spots. The developed model makes it possible to calculate the linear dimensions and area of the danger zone under optimistic and pessimistic scenarios, constructing a graphical diagram of the zones of toxic doses from the source of explosion and combustion. The results obtained from the modeling can serve as the basis for making quick decisions about evacuating residents from nearby areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fire and Explosions Risk in Industrial Processes)
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22 pages, 4110 KiB  
Article
Parameters Affecting the Explosion Characteristics of Hybrid Mixtures Arising from the Use of Alternative Energy Sources
by Matous Helegda, Jiri Pokorny, Iris Helegda, Jan Skrinsky and Juraj Sinay
Fire 2024, 7(4), 139; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire7040139 - 14 Apr 2024
Viewed by 1187
Abstract
Explosions of hybrid mixtures are an interesting theoretical and experimental problem in explosion sciences, because they combine the physicochemical properties of flammable gases and dusts. A hybrid mixture is composed of at least two substances in two or more states. The influence of [...] Read more.
Explosions of hybrid mixtures are an interesting theoretical and experimental problem in explosion sciences, because they combine the physicochemical properties of flammable gases and dusts. A hybrid mixture is composed of at least two substances in two or more states. The influence of the common presence of flammable gas on the explosiveness parameters of the combustible dust itself is proven. In this study, we present the effect of higher initiation temperatures, different initial sources of initiation with different energies, and the effect of the volume of explosion chambers on the explosions of hybrid mixtures arising from the use of alternative energy sources. The experiments were carried out in 20 L and 1.00 m3 explosion chambers (according to EN 14034-1+A1:2011–EN 14034-4+A1:2011). The accredited method of the Energy Research Centre, VSB-TU Ostrava, for tests was used. The goal is to approximate the behaviour of these systems under different initiation conditions so that it is possible to avoid excessively conservative or overly optimistic results, which then affect the determination of explosion parameters for practical use. It was found that the volume of the explosion chambers in combination with the used initiation source has a fundamental influence on the course of the explosion characteristics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fire and Explosions Risk in Industrial Processes)
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17 pages, 5404 KiB  
Article
Research on Multi-Objective Optimization on Explosion-Suppression Structure-Nonmetallic Spherical Spacers
by Minjie Liu, Yangyang Yu, Junhong Zhang, Dan Wang, Xueling Zhang and Meng Yan
Fire 2024, 7(1), 28; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire7010028 - 15 Jan 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1517
Abstract
Intense burning phenomena (fire disasters) need to be prevented in the combustible gas utilization and transportation processes to ensure industrial safety. Nonmetallic spherical spacers (NSSs) have been investigated and applied in lots of explosive atmospheres to prevent explosion execution in a confined space. [...] Read more.
Intense burning phenomena (fire disasters) need to be prevented in the combustible gas utilization and transportation processes to ensure industrial safety. Nonmetallic spherical spacers (NSSs) have been investigated and applied in lots of explosive atmospheres to prevent explosion execution in a confined space. In this work, a novel fuzzy-based analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) is developed to take into account the uncertainty in decision-making and effectively solve the problem of factor weight allocation in multi-objective optimization. Optimal Latin Hypercube Design (Opt LHD), Chebyshev Orthogonal Polynomials (COP), and Adaptive Simulated Annealing (ASA) were combined. A multi-objective optimization method is proposed for the structural parameter optimization problem on NSSs in order to achieve conflicting multiple-objective optimization of low displacement rate and minimal deformation. That is to say, the small volume (low displacement rate) and high explosion-suppression performance (minimal deformation) of NSSs were optimized simultaneously. The results show that, compared with the original NSS model’s deformation (2.85 mm) and displacement rate (3.63%), the optimized NSSs with weight allocation had optimized the deformation by 12.98% and displacement rate by 6.1%. Compared with the optimized design model of NSSs without weight allocation with a deformation of 2.75 mm and a displacement rate of 3.48%, the deformation has been optimized by 9.82%, and the displacement rate has been optimized by 2.0%. It was verified that the proposed method is effective. At the same time, it was verified that the suppression effect of NSSs can be enhanced by changing the shape of the NSS spacer reasonably by experimental verification. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fire and Explosions Risk in Industrial Processes)
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11 pages, 2364 KiB  
Article
Recommended Separation Distances for 1.3 Ammunition and Explosives
by Clint Guymon, Ming Liu and Josephine Covino
Fire 2023, 6(9), 331; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6090331 - 24 Aug 2023
Viewed by 2108
Abstract
Separation Distances are used throughout the world to protect people and assets from the potential hazardous effects from propellants, explosives, and pyrotechnics. The current separation distances for Hazard Division (HD) 1.3 substances and articles used in the United States, in some cases, may [...] Read more.
Separation Distances are used throughout the world to protect people and assets from the potential hazardous effects from propellants, explosives, and pyrotechnics. The current separation distances for Hazard Division (HD) 1.3 substances and articles used in the United States, in some cases, may not adequately protect against the effects from heat flux and debris when those substances and articles are ignited in a confined structure. Multiple tests in such a confined scenario with HD 1.3 substances have shown that the heat flux and debris hazards could result in injury at distances beyond the current specified explosives safety separation distance (ESSD). Herein are the recommended ESSDs for confined as well as unconfined HD 1.3 articles and substances based on the analysis of hundreds of tests. Recommended ESSDs include a smaller value for unconfined quantities less than 145 kg and ESSDs that are consistent with NATO distances for confined substances and articles. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fire and Explosions Risk in Industrial Processes)
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10 pages, 2411 KiB  
Article
Requirements for a Hybrid Dust-Gas-Standard: Influence of the Mixing Procedure on Safety Characteristics of Hybrid Mixtures
by Stefan H. Spitzer, Enis Askar, Kristin J. Hecht, Dieter Gabel, Sabine Zakel and Arne Krietsch
Fire 2022, 5(4), 113; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire5040113 - 6 Aug 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2519
Abstract
While developing a standard for the determination of safety characteristics for hybrid mixtures the authors discovered, that, beside the ignition source, the mixing procedure is the main difference between the single-phase standards for dusts and gases. The preparation of hybrid mixtures containing a [...] Read more.
While developing a standard for the determination of safety characteristics for hybrid mixtures the authors discovered, that, beside the ignition source, the mixing procedure is the main difference between the single-phase standards for dusts and gases. The preparation of hybrid mixtures containing a flammable gas and a flammable dust in the 20 L-sphere can be realized in different ways. Either the flammable gas is filled only in the sphere or only in the dust container or in both. In previous works, almost always the first method is applied, without giving any information on the accuracy of the gas mixtures. In this work the accuracy of the gas mixtures and the results of the tests applying two methods of mixing were studied. No significant influence of the mixing method itself on the safety characteristics explosion pressure pex and the normalized rate of pressure rise (K-value) was found. Obviously, homogenization of the gas mixtures can be obtained sufficiently by the turbulence that is caused during the injection from the dust container into the explosion chamber within a short time. However, the mixing procedure has a great influence on the accuracy of the gas amount of the mixtures obtained. Without modifying the 20 L-sphere by installing precise pressure sensors, assuring its tightness and performing gas analysis, it must be expected, that the accuracy of the gas mixtures is very low. This has a significant influence on the measured safety characteristics and may lead to unsafe facilities or unnecessary expensive safety measures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fire and Explosions Risk in Industrial Processes)
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