Page 22 - Dust Explosions in the Process Industries

Prefaces

PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION

As with the second edition, I have not revised the entire book, which, although desir-
able, would have been an impossible task for me to undertake. However, the entire orig-
inal body of the book (Chapters 1-7) had, for various reasons, to be reproduced for this
new edition. This has given me the opportunity, when reading through the new produc-
tion, to make minor adjustments in the original text, where this was considered neces-
sary in the light of more recent evidence.
The major revision has been limited to the final review chapter of the second edition,
which has been expanded and rewritten to cover the whole span 1990-2002. Nearly 400
new literature references have been added. I am indebted to all the colleagues, over the
whole world, who have kindly provided reprints and reports of their valuable work.
An entirely new chapter on electrical equipment for areas containing explosible dusts
has been added to the book. I became acquainted with this special field over the last 12
years and gradually realized that a chapter devoted to this topic would be useful. I am
greatly indebted to Thore Andersen, secretary of the Norwegian national Ex committee,
NIK 31,for many valuable discussions, help with retrieving printed information, proof-
reading the new chapter, and arranging for me to take part in some of the meetings of
the IEC working group 31H WG3. Sincere thanks are due also to Dr. Gerold Klotz-
Engmann, Endress + Hauser, Germany, for valuable advice and help during the prepa-
ration of the section on intrinsic safety.
My special thanks goes to my outstanding research student Trygve Skjold, for numer-
ous stimulating discussions and bringing to my attention many important papers. He also
kindly proofread both Chapters 8 and 9.
In the original part of the book, the adjective expEosibleis used both in connection with
dust and dust cloud, hence explosibledust and explosibledust cloud. In the new Chapters
8 and 9, I distinguish between explosible dust and explosive dust clouds. The reasoning
is that a combustible dust as such is only potentially explosive, whereas a dust cloud that
can propagate a flame is explosive in the same sense as a premixed gas cloud.

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION

The present book was first published in August 1991 as a hardcover version, which was
out of print by spring 1994. The publisher then decided to produce a new paperback ver-
sion, which was essentially the original book with some minor adjustments. This second
version was out of print by mid-1996.
In 1992 I was asked to give a review lecture on the state of the art of research on dust
explosion prevention and mitigation, at an international summer school. This provided