Industrial Fire Prevention

How to keep from blowing up and burning down your wood pelleting operation. “You know you are making fuel, right?” This is a question I often found myself asking as new wood pellet and biomass plants started sprouting up all over the Midwest, Northeastern States, and Canada, but especially here in the Southeast United States. And I didn’t say this to be rude, but to point out potential combustible dust and ignition issues. We have been making wood flour in North America for decades in the forest products, wood products, secondary wood products, and especially in the MDF Medium Density Fiberboard and other related industries. Yet there seemed to be little technology transfer. Especially in fire and explosion prevention and protection. Every engineering firm and large equipment manufacturer seemed to think they could build a wood pellet plant better than the last. So, naturally many of the designs are different. Some are efficient, some not so much. Some are built w...