Recent Health and Safety Incident Trends Related to the Storage of Woody Biomass: A Need for Improved Monitoring Strategies

Abstract

Self-heating fires, dust explosions and off-gassing during biomass storage are serious hazards which can have devastating consequences, resulting in worker fatalities and health impacts, as well as bioenergy plant destruction and complete loss of production. A compilation of incident reports involving biomass storage from 2000–2018 has revealed that these potential hazards continue to be a major concern in the bioenergy sector. Higher occurrence rates were found for incidents categorized as self-heating fires and fires of uncertain causes in recent years through our study of online reports. This paper highlights a critical need for improved safety protocols for bioenergy plant workers, detailed incident documentation and enhanced biomass monitoring strategies to drastically reduce the occurrence of threats associated with the storage of woody biomass. In order to manage the high risks associated with self-heating, a system for real-time monitoring of internal pile temperature was investigated. A monitoring system supplied by Braingrid Corporation was verified using embedded Tinytag thermologgers indicating that this methodology shows potential for preventing spontaneous combustion events by providing real time temperature data for superior pile management.

Options for Optimizing the Drying Process and Reducing Dry Matter Losses in Whole-Tree Storage of Poplar from Short-Rotation Coppices in Germany

“…The swift temperature increases up to 50 to 65 • C known from freshly harvested and stored wood chips was not ascertained here [22,27]. A strong temperature increase is an indication of intensive microbiological-chemical processes in the storage pile that can lead to corresponding dry matter losses after relatively long storage [22,25,28]. The absence of this rise in temperature confirmed the very low dry matter losses determined (cf.…”

“…The main causes of these losses are the residual respiration of the living cells following the harvest, microbiological degradation, and thermo-chemical oxidation processes. The detailed mechanisms and interactions of these processes have not yet been sufficiently clarified [23][24][25][26].…”

Effects of Torefaction with Counter-Flow Multi Baffle (COMB) Reactor and Electric Furnace on the Properties of Jabon (Anthocephalus cadamba) Pellets

“…Biomassa yang ditumpuk tersebut dapat mengalami panas-sendiri (self-heating) akibat kondensasi air, oksidasi biologis, dan oksidasi kimiawi yang dapat memicu pembakaran spontan dan mengakibatkan kebakaran. Krigstin et al (2018) melaporkan kejadian kebakaran biomassa saat penyimpanan dan mencatat 69 kasus kebakaran di negara-negara Amerika dan Eropa pada periode 2000-2018. Peningkatan sifat hidrofobik biomassa melalui torefaksi memungkinkan aktivitas biologis yang rendah dan dapat mencegah oksidasi selama penyimpanan sehingga pembakaran spontan dapat dicegah.…”

Particle Size Influence on the Transport Classification Labels and Other Flammability Characteristics of Powders

“…Therefore, this process becomes a danger from the point of view of industrial safety, in addition to transportation and storage. Some biomass treatment plants had accidents, due to this combustion process, as has been compiled by Krigstin et al [2].…”