Inhibitory effects of three chemical dust suppressants on nitrocellulose dust cloud explosion

Three types of self-prepared chemical dust suppressants (CDSs) were investigated for their inhibitory effects on nitrocellulose (NC) cloud dust explosion. The results revealed that NC is extremely sensitive to electric sparks and has a high explosion intensity. CaCl2-CDS effectively increased the particle size to control fly dust substantially inhibiting dust cloud explosions. However, both Na2SO4-CDS and MgCl2-CDS exhibited poor abilities and even promoted explosion. Therefore, neither Na2SO4-CDS nor MgCl2-CDS is recommended as a CDS for NC. Inappropriately using CDSs may engender severe explosions. Furthermore, a mechanism underlying NC dust cloud combustion and explosion was proposed. NC has three stages of heat release: autoxidation, thermal decomposition, and combustion. Thermal decomposition, combustion, and explosion were triggered depending on the energy provided from autoxidation. CaCl2-CDS inhibited only combustion. This study reveals the mechanism underlying NC dust cloud explosions and provides useful information for the development of more optimized CDSs.