ELSEVIER

J. Loss Prev. Process Ind. Vol. 10. No. 4. p. 2g6,JW7 Printed in Great Britain. All rights nerved

PII: SO950-4230(97)00015-6

Dust Explosions in the Process Industries, 2nd Edition (1997)

By Rolf K. Eckhoff Buttenvorth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK and Boston, MA, 643 pp.

This second edition is essentially the same book that I reviewed in Volume 5, No. 4 (1992) of the Journal of Loss Pre- vention in the Process Industries, except for the addition of a new chapter (Chapter 8), which covers new infor- mation on research and development published from 1990 to May 1996.

The material reviewed in this new chapter includes the following topics: new books and conference proceedings; dust cloud formation processes (what is turbulence of a dust cloud?); dust layer and dust cloud ignition processes; flame propagation processes in dust clouds; blast waves generated by burning dust clouds; the role of fundamental knowl- edge in assessing hazards in practice; preventing ignition sources; preventing explosible dust clouds; mitigatory and controlling measures; status and out- standing problems in testing of dust ignitability and explosibility; expert sys- tems; human hazard factors; and joint

research efforts in Europe and research and development in the People’s Repub- lic of China. This last chapter alone has 220 references.

For those engineers and scientists who did not purchase the first edition, or read my review of it, I summarize below the titles of the first seven chapters to illustrate the wide range of subject matter covered. Chapter 1 is an overview of dust explosions origin, propagation, pre- vention, and mitigation. Chapter 2 con- tains descriptions of a number of case histories of dust explosions. In Chapter 3 the author discusses the generation of explosible dust clouds by re-entrainment and re-dispersion of deposited dust in air. The propagation of flames in dust clouds is reviewed in Chapter 4, while Chapter 5 discusses some selected aspects of the ignition of dust clouds and dust deposits (layers). Chapter 6 is a very thorough overview of sizing of dust explosion vents in the process industries. Chapter

7 is a comprehensive discussion of the assessment of ignitability, explosibility, and related properties of dusts by labora- tory scale tests. Appendix 1 contains a very large compilation of ignitability and explosibility data for dusts from labora- tory tests, and Appendix 2 discusses the applicability of earlier U.S. Bureau of Mines test data, and their compatibility with more recent data obtained in 20-liter and larger spherical test vessels and other test apparatus.

This book is a ‘must’ for anyone involved in dust explosion research and hazard prevention, protection, and miti- gation. This edition is in a paperback version, which makes it much more affordable than the original hardcover edition.

S. S. Grossel Process Safety & Design, Inc.,

Clifon, NJ, USA

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