In recent years, multiple sugar dust explosions have occurred at facilities that produce and store sugar. One incident involves an explosion that occurred at the sugar silo of the Perfetti Van Melle candy factory located in Erlanger, Kentucky. The likely cause of the explosion is believed to be a significant concentration of sugar dust in the atmosphere. Sugar dust induces explosions can be very dangerous and cause significant damage to both the facility and personnel: an explosion that happened at the Imperial Sugar refinery in Port Wentworth, GA in 2008 left 14 people dead and 36 people injured, as well as causing massive damage to the facility itself.

The threat of the sugar dust explosion has been dated back as far back as 1925. Even though the risk of sugar dust ignition is acknowledged, the sugar manufacturing and storage plants still fail to adopt adequate safety protocols to avert the explosions. There are multiple ways of addressing the dangers of sugar dust. Facilities that handle large amounts of sugar are highly susceptible to combustible dust becoming airborne while being transported. A flammable mixture may arise during the transport of sugar; this mixture can subsequently lead to an explosion because of the restricted space.

There are several ways to reduce the amount of sugar dust in the air:

• A hazard assessment of the facility must take place; the choice of protective measures should be based on the results of the assessment.
• The sugar that is being handled at the facility should be tested for combustible characteristics such as Explosion Severity (KSt, Minimum Ignition Energy in a Dust Cloud, Minimum Explosive Concentration), as well as average particle size and moisture content.
• Training for employees should occur to educate them about potential hazards and methods to avert them.
• Possible ignition sources, like static electricity, open flames, welding, and smoking, should be controlled.
• Measures to reduce the amount of sugar dust present in the air should be implemented. Dry sugar dust collectors and wet air scrubbers are among the most popular solutions.

Dry dust collectors are not appropriate for sugar dust as they get clogged easily by sugar. Dry dust collectors create a perfect environment for sugar dust combustion, as dust accumulates in high concentrations in an enclosed space. Wet air scrubbers, however, are effective against dust and do not create an environment that poses a threat of sugar dust explosion. However, many wet air scrubbers struggle with sugar since it readily obstructs the nozzles, making the scrubber ineffective.

Multi-vortex wet air scrubber is able to process sugar dust without being clogged due to the high speeds of microturbulence vortices that are used to scrub the inlet gas. Tests show that the Multi-vortex wet air scrubber is able to handle 250 g. of sugar per 1 liter of water without any issues.

If you are looking for the best air treatment device to improve air quality, Redwood Technology offers a cutting-edge type of wet scrubber – a Multi-Vortex wet air scrubber.

Redwood technology is a fast-growing vendor of wet air scrubbers. The multi-vortex scrubber can remove gas emissions, dust, vapors, and other pollutants from a gas stream. It is an innovative technology created to save water that makes it more cost-efficient and differs from other types of scrubbers.  If you have any questions or would like to purchase a multi-vortex wet air scrubber, please contact us at info@rdwd.tech