Hazardous Area Classification for Biomass

Operators of facilities using biomass as a fuel must comply with the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations (2002) (DSEAR). A key requirement of this legislation is that areas where a flammable atmosphere could arise are demarcated into zones. Traditional guidance on zoning or Hazardous Area Classification for dusts has not kept up to date with the latest technology and theories on dust explosion science.

This project identified a number of key explosion parameters for spruce biomass through experiments carried out using the 1m³ explosion test vessel. It is suggested that given the relatively high lower explosive limit and guidance from recently issued papers that the size of external zones can be extremely small without any compromise in the safety of a system.