Spontaneous ignition resulting from slow oxidation of combustible material can be an industrial fire hazard and is known to occur in a wide variety of materials given the right conditions. Pulverised coal, milk powder and dried sewage sludge are well known as having the potential for self-heating leading to combustion, but there are many other industrial examples. This Information Paper describes a simple and powerful test method that can be used to assess the spontaneous ignition hazard of particulate matter.

Pages: 6

Format: A4

Illustrations: 2 line drawings, 1 photo

Contents
Purpose of the tests Theory Oven tests Extrapolation of oven tests Hotplate tests Extrapolation of hotplate tests UN recommendations on the transport of dangerous goods Times to ignition Discussion of isothermal test methods References Appendix A: Useful values for delta c, the Frank-Kamenetskii parameter Appendix B: Worked example