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Background Iron powder appears to be a promising solution for long-term energy storage and (inter-) continental transport, as it is safe to store and does not require energy to maintain its state, unlike, for instance, liquefied hydrogen. However, while the fundamental research is well underway, large-scale implementation is still in its early stages, with a growing number of promising demonstrators emerging. Methods This article contributes to the large-scale implementation of iron as an energy carrier by presenting a round-robin test of four iron powders currently used in research and larger-scale demonstrators. These powders were tested on their safety characteristics in the standard 20 L apparatus across eight European countries. Results The resulting data are intended to support future standardization efforts using different iron samples as standardized fuel. All tested powders were classified either as non-explosible or as belonging to the category of marginally explosible dusts (Class 1). This provides a clear picture of the level of explosion protection measures that need to be considered for the safe use of iron powders in energy carrier applications. Conclusions Along with that, the study detected variations in the results and pointed to shortcomings in the current standards that may cause such discrepancies. These findings emphasize the importance of improving testing procedures to support standardization and ensure the safe use of iron powder as an energy carrier using an a-priori-approach rather than subsequent testing.
Safety characteristics are used for the safe operation of processes. Designing protection measures requires explosion characteristics to be determined, namely the maximum explosion pressure and the maximum rate of pressure rise. Safety characteristics of single-phase components (solid, liquid or gas) can be determined according to standards that were developed 40 years ago and are continuously improved. For hybrid mixtures containing a flammable gas and a combustible dust there has been an approach in the 80s but it has never been improved nor applied ever since (ISO 6184-3). A new approach by four German research facilities and the German Institute for standardization (DIN) with the aim of developing a new standard was launched in 2019. In 2022 the key findings led to a first international round robin test with eleven participating facilities from seven countries. The dust component was corn starch and methane was chosen as gas component. In order to strengthen the data foundation before finalizing and publishing the new standard, a second round robin test was initiated with hydrogen as gas component and lycopodium as dust. The paper will summarize the findings and their influence on the new standard.
Explosion characteristics are widely used in the process industries to determine the potential hazard of the used substances. In the American and European standards for determination of the maximum explosion pressure of dusts, the measured pressure is corrected if the tests are conducted in the 20L-sphere. This correction formula increases the measured values if they are above 5.5 bar g. It also causes, that the only two volumes for testing that are used are the standard 1m³ and the 20L-sphere because it is unclear whether corrections are necessary and, if so, what correction should be applied at other volumes. In this article explosion tests were performed with four different dusts, lycopodium, lignite, aluminum, and nitrocellulose, in four different vessel sizes: 20 L, 250 L, 365 L, and 1000 L to investigate the influence of the vessel size.
Safety characteristics are widely used in industrial processes to avoid explosive atmospheres (primary explosionprotection) or to mitigate the consequences of an explosion (constructive explosion protection). Several laboratory parameters influence the determined values when performing the test series such as the beginning pressure and the pre-ignition pressure rise, the ignition source, the ignition energy, the burning duration and volume or the concentration of the combustible substance.
In the different standards for the determination of safety characteristics of dusts there is no statement about the scattering or the deviation when parameters are chosen or occur on the borders of their allowed range. Thus, two laboratories might determine values that are hardly comparable for the same given substance.
This article summarizes some of the influential factors that cause a deviation and shows the inherent scattering of dust tests when all other parameters are kept constant. It also provides some advice how to minimize the deviation and the scattering with little effort.
Iron powder appears to be a promising solution for long-term energy storage and (inter-) continental transport, as it is safe to store and does not require energy to maintain its state, unlike, for instance, liquefied hydrogen. However, while the fundamental research is well underway, large-scale implementation is still in its early stages, with a growing number of promising demonstrators emerging.
This article contributes to the large-scale implementation of iron as an energy carrier by presenting a round-robin test of four iron powders currently used in research and larger-scale demonstrators. These powders were tested on their safety characteristics in the standard 20 L apparatus across eight European countries. The resulting data are intended to support future standardization efforts using different iron samples as standardized fuel. All tested powders were classified either as non-explosible or as belonging to the category of marginally explosible dusts (Class 1). This provides a clear picture of the level of explosion protection measures that Need to be considered for the safe use of iron powders in energy carrier applications.
Along with that, the study detected variations in the results and pointed to shortcomings in the current standards that may cause such discrepancies. These findings emphasize the importance of improving testing procedures to support standardization and ensure the safe use of iron powder as an energy carrier using an a-priori-Approach rather than subsequent testing.
