Can high pressure CO2 system be used for

inerting system for pulverized coal silos?

Question asked by fxm-bj on Jul 5, 2016
Latest reply on May 29, 2018 by nafed
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Although the low-pressure carbon dioxide inerting system has been very mature, but because of its
large equipment, systems long-term operation, maintenance and higher operating costs, more and
more owners, discussing if high-pressure carbon dioxide system can be used in inerting system for
pulverized coal silo inerting system.
Now we have not found a similar project in China, I would like to ask whether there are related
equipment subsupplier who had similar experience.
No one else has this question
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Last modified on Jul 5, 2016 4:31 AM

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Steve BentonJul 5, 2016 8:29 AM
Xiaomin,
I would like to explain first that I am not a firefighter, nor do I have any experience with the carbon
dioxide systems that you mention. However, I do work with some people that have some experience
extinguishing coal silo fires. I presented your question to one such gentleman and he said that they
have not had much success with carbon dioxide systems, rather they use piercing rod technologies to
address most coal silo fires. His explanation is that carbon dioxide does not reach deep seated hot
spots within the silo very well.
Perhaps someone on this group can better answer you question about carbon dioxide systems.
I have included a link below to a magazine article that discusses the topic.
http://www.hct-world.com/wp-
content/uploads/2013/08/Articles/ART_PR_PWR_Coal%20People%20Magazine-Coal%20Silo-
Bunker%20Fi…
Blessings,
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g5alva@ Steve Benton on Jul 5, 2016 9:47 AM
A great link.
 Sure make one also think about other materials and the fire protection/prevention/containment
needs of each area.
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twysockiSep 12, 2016 3:25 PM
Back in 1953, Commonwealth Edison an electric utility in Illinois and the old Cardox Company
worked together to develop a method of fighting fires in coal silos. Hundreds of systems were
installed with excellent results at various sites storing various types of coal. The method involved
injecting CO2 vapor near the bottom of the silo as well as in the vapor space above the coal. CO2
vapor MUST be used for this application and the volume of CO2 vapor needed to fill a silo will be at
least three times the gross volume of the silo. Injection of liquid CO2 into a silo can stir up coal dust
and cause an explosion. Also injecting liquid CO2 into the mass of coal within the silo can result in
formation of a dry ice blockage at the nozzle, stopping the flow of CO2. So vapor injection is
required.

Details on this method of silo fire fighting were published as Power Generation Bulletin #0040 Coal
Storage Silos and Bunkers by Chemetron Fire Systems/Cardox Company. These bulletins used to be
available free of charge on the Chemetron Fire Systems website. Chemetron Fire Systems was
recently merged into Kidde Fire Systems so the bulletins may not be out on the web anymore. If you
need a copy and cannot get one from Kidde, please let me know.

It is relatively easy to produce the large amounts of CO2 vapor needed to fill a silo using liquid from
the low pressure storage tank and an external vaporizer to convert the liquid into vapor. Producing
the large amount of vapor needed for typical silos from high pressure cylinders is much more
difficult. I personally looked into this possibility back in the mid 1970s and decided the use of vapor
from high pressure cylinders would be impractical for typical coal silos.

Manually fighting fires in silos is a dangerous proposition - one need only search the web for coal
silo fires and multiple accounts of firefighter fatalities from silo fires are available.
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Steve Benton@ twysocki on Sep 12, 2016 8:53 PM
Great information Thomas Wysocki! Thanks for sharing!
Blessings, Stephen Benton
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nafedMay 29, 2018 3:50 PM
The type of systems that Tom Wysocki is discussing was used throughout the power generation
industry for protection of the coal silos. Protection of the pulverizers was accomplished using a
tradition CO2 system design with automatic actuation. The protection for the coal silos/bunkers was
manually actuated and utilized a manually controlled discharge of the vaporized CO2. The plant
operation would monitor the gases in the silo (carbon monoxide and methane) and when a
predetermined threshold was reached the vaporized CO2 was injected into the lower portion of the
silo hopper near the coal outlet and in the top space of the silo to inert the air space above the coal.
The flow of the CO2 was controlled by manual vales upstream of the inject nozzles. This
same application method was used for coal storage facilities at cement plants and for some coal mine
storage facilities.

One additional advantage when these system were installed in power plants was that he vaporized
CO2 could also be used to inert the generator housing during startups and shut downs.