Studies of dust explosion suppression by water sprays and extinguishing powders

A comparison of effectiveness of water sprays, neutral dusts and typical extinguishing powders in the suppression process of organic dust - air mixtures explosions is presented. The research was carried out in the 1.25 m(3) explosion chamber. The corn starch - air mixture of 175 g/m(3) concentration was used in the explosion processes. Three specially designed swirl nozzles were used for spraying the water and another nozzle was used for dispersion of the neutral and extinguishing powders It was found that the water spray could be more effective as dust explosion suppression medium than the typical extinguishing powders.