Compound feed industry
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Fires in production plants caused by sparks in the animal feed industry
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Minimization of fires in the animal feed sector through modern fire protection technologies in recent years
Our solutions at a glance
Risks that cause high fire hazards
- High dust concentrations
- Enormous fire loads due to dry and fine material
- Sparking and hot particles
- Friction
- Overheating of materials and workpieces
Machines with high fire risks
- Mills
- Dryers
- Presses
- Coolers
- Elevators
- Filters
- Silos
Fire detection and prevention technologies
- Spark extinguishing systems
- Water spray extinguishing systems
- Gas extinguishing systems
- Fire detection systems
- Infrared early fire detection
Your partner in the Compound feed industry
In the compound feed industry, pelleting systems are often used to produce feed pellets from a wide variety of raw materials such as grain, soy, maize and other ingredients for a wide range of livestock.
In compound feed production, regardless of the pelleted material, there are high fire risks simply due to the machines used. The production areas in pellet manufacturing are characterized by mechanical transport equipment and pneumatic conveying systems in which combustible materials of different grain sizes and dry contents are transported. Fires in the systems and silos or even explosions in filter systems and conveyor systems occur time and again due to external contamination, material damage to system components, inadequate operational management (e.g. insufficient cleaning).
This results in production downtime, high property damage and danger to human life. To eliminate this risk, these production facilities must be protected by appropriate protection concepts. The protection concept for compound feed production, which is also outlined in VdS 2106, provides good guidance here.
The requirements of the insurance industry have increased enormously as a result of a number of major loss events in recent years involving total losses of the plant.
The official, building regulations and statutory safety regulations are no longer nearly sufficient as a minimum level of basic fire protection.
7 reasons for reliable fire prevention:
- Reconstruction costs energy, time and money.
- Loss of customers and suppliers due to long absence from the market
- Provision of the investment: Claims settlement by the property insurer is not always clear and promptly clarified.
- Acquisition of machinery, furnishings and equipment for workstations
- Data recovery: IT systems may be damaged
- Installing and setting up hardware and software
- Restoring all processes
Further delays due to
- Shortage of skilled workers: both during construction and in the company’s own workforce
- Extended delivery times: for machines, small parts, materials (stock)
If you have already recognized these risks, you have come to the right place. If not, you are also in the right place and can read about potential fire hazards in the following sections and learn about technologies that will protect you from production losses and lengthy discussions with insurers.
Which production areas pose a particularly high fire risk?
Mills
Whether hammer mills, disk mills or roller mills, all mills share the same high risk of fire and explosion. Only a holistic protection concept can prevent this risk. What are the common causes of this high risk?
- Material contamination: Foreign bodies in raw materials, such as stones, metal parts or even hard grains or shells, can lead to dangerous ignition potentials that can trigger smouldering fires in the grinder, in the grinder hopper or in the top filter, if present. If the dust concentration in the machine is between the lower explosion limit (LEL) and the upper explosion limit (UEL), explosions may occur in the machine if there is sufficient ignition energy.
- Damage to the discharge screw: A broken shaft on the discharge screw or material jams can lead to friction, which can cause embers in the material.
- Shaft breakage: Shaft breakage can quickly generate mechanical sparks on the roller, which can cause smouldering fires or explosions.
Presses
Pelleting presses are one of the riskiest machines in the entire pelleting process. Not only due to the enormous forces acting on the material, presses are one of the most frequent sources of ignition potential.
- Pressure: High pressure can lead to dangerous friction. Especially in the starting and stopping process or with incorrect material dosing, glowing particles can arise due to strong friction.
- Material contamination: Impurities in the material can also lead to sparking.
- Die breakage: If the machines are not properly maintained or overloaded, fatigue fractures in the material can quickly lead to breakage of the pellet die.
Friction: If the material is incorrectly dosed or material builds up, permanent friction can easily cause the material to overheat in hammer mills and pellet presses, resulting in embers.
Cooler for compound feed
Hard to believe. Fires in coolers, whether counterflow coolers or cooling screws, are one of the most frequent fire incidents in a pellet plant. Due to the high volume flow and permanent oxygen supply, embers can quickly spread into extensive fires.
- Entry of ignition potentials: Ignition potentials such as sparks or embers can easily be introduced into the cooler for mixed feed by pelleting presses, which are often installed upstream. There they can quickly spread to a full fire due to the permanent supply of oxygen.
- Insufficient ventilation: Insufficient ventilation can cause heat and combustible gases to accumulate, which increases the risk of fire.
- Operating errors: Errors in the operation of the cooler for compound feed, such as exceeding the capacity limits, can lead to overheating and thus to a fire.
- Overheating in hammer mills and pellet mills: Compound feed pellets have a high temperature during production. If the cooler for compound feed does not cool the compound feed pellets sufficiently or if the cooler for compound feed itself overheats, the compound feed pellets can ignite.
Filters
Fires in filter systems and dust extraction systems are generally one of the most frequent causes of fire in industry. Under extremely unfavorable conditions (cleaning of the filter elements, inadequate maintenance, improper operation), explosions can even occur with the right dust-air concentration (concentration between LEL and LEL) and sufficient ignition potential. What are the causes?
- Material contamination: Foreign bodies in raw materials, such as stones, metal splinters or even hard grains, can cause dangerous ignition potentials that are introduced into the extraction line.
Bearing damage to the fan: Bearing damage to the fan can cause sparks to fly. - Damage to the discharge screw: A broken shaft on the discharge screw or material jams can lead to friction, which can cause embers in the material.
- Tool breakage: Tool breakage can cause pieces of metal to enter the extraction line and generate mechanical sparks.
Material jam: Wedging or jamming of the material can quickly lead to mechanical friction, which can result in embers or smouldering particles - Human error: Improper handling of the machines or, for example, the uncontrolled throwing away of cigarette butts can lead to the introduction of dangerous ignition potentials into the extraction system.
Silo
Silo fires are a familiar scenario in compound feed production. Silo fires are extremely difficult to extinguish and require a well-trained fire department that can deal with such incidents safely. If the wrong extinguishing procedure is chosen for a silo fire, devastating explosions can easily occur. To avoid the risk of silo fires, suitable detection and extinguishing systems should be integrated. Spark extinguishing systems, for example, can be used as a preventative measure. The VdS leaflet VdS 2154, for example, provides further good guidance on the protection of silo systems. In the following, we list the causes of fire that you must always take into account when assessing the risk:
- Entry of ignition sources: Mechanically generated ignition sources can be introduced into the silo via the pneumatic conveyor line or the mechanical conveyor, e.g. the elevator or the scraper chain conveyor
- Damage to the discharge auger: A broken shaft on the discharge auger or material jams can lead to friction, which can cause embers in the material.
- Electrostatic charge: Inadequate earthing of the silo, but also incorrect material accumulation, such as uneven distribution or clumping, can lead to charges being concentrated in certain places, which increases the risk of sparking.
Dryers
The past few years have seen a number of damage incidents, particularly in belt dryers. Due to various unfavorable factors, the risk of fire in belt dryers increases immensely. On the one hand, there are the relatively high drying temperatures, the increasing dryness of the material and a high dust content. On the other hand, the high proportion of material in such systems should not be underestimated, which is why the fire load is considered to be very high. If sparks that are introduced into the belt dryer by upstream processes, for example, or hot layers of material that are created by deposits in the dryer lead to pockets of embers, a very rapid spread of fire is to be expected. T&B has developed a VdS-certified protection concept for the protection of such drying systems (more information here). This concept fully covers the extensive requirements of the insurance industry, such as HDI (see fire protection in the timber industry).
- Fire load: With a material throughput of up to 50t/h in some cases, the fire loads are enormous. Due to the high process temperatures and the residual moisture of sometimes around 3-5%, fires can spread rapidly if the material ignites.
- High process temperatures: The high process temperatures of 100°C and more in places lead to overdrying when the material is deposited and therefore guarantee an enormous risk of smouldering fires or smouldering fires.
- Dust concentration: Due to the high dust concentrations, explosive concentrations must sometimes be expected in the belt dryer. Sufficient ignition energy, e.g. the introduction of external ignition sources, can lead to explosions in the belt dryer.
- Entry of external ignition sources: Upstream processes such as wet chip mills or chippers can quickly introduce mechanically generated ignition sources into a belt dryer. Belt dryers are often operated under negative pressure, which means that external ignition sources, e.g. generated by welding work in the vicinity of the belt dryer, can also be drawn into the process.
- Friction: Material deposits can form on the rollers along the dryer belt. Due to material fatigue, mechanical friction on the bearings of the rollers can lead to an increase in temperature, which in the worst case ignites the material deposits and leads to swelling fires or smouldering nests.
Advantages for the compound feed industry / pellet industry
What does effective fire protection look like for these areas?
Effective fire protection does not come off the shelf. At T&B electronic, we offer specialized fire protection solutions that are specifically tailored to the requirements of the animal feed industry. Our systems are designed to meet the high safety standards of this industry and ensure the protection of employees, systems and products.
T&B works with you to develop individual protection concepts for your production plant.
Effective fire prevention does not come “off the shelf”, but meets the specific requirements of the respective process or plant area.
We attach great importance to holistic protection for the best possible safety. Tailored to your production and certified.
Some of the protective measures required for this type of operation from an insurance point of view, which must be implemented when the construction project is realized, are listed below. Additional recommended measures to improve fire protection can be discussed personally with our specialists at any time.
Spark extinguishing systems
T&B spark extinguishing systems detect the slightest ignition potential such as sparks, glowing and hot particles. The ignition potential is cooled down in milliseconds by a fine mist of water without interrupting the production process. Thanks to the high-performance infrared detectors, sparks as well as smouldering and hot particles can be reliably detected at an early stage. In the event of a persistent spark, the production areas can be shut down and other extinguishing systems, such as gas extinguishing systems, can be activated,
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- Filter systems
- Silo
- Dryers
- Presses
- Coolers for compound feed
- Elevators
Gas extinguishing systems
T&B gas extinguishing systems are monitored and triggered by an intuitive fire detection and extinguishing control panel. Depending on the process, fire detection takes place via different fire detectors such as flame, smoke, heat or fire gas detectors. Argon is used as the extinguishing gas, which offers significant advantages over other extinguishing gases (more on this here). In special cases, it can also be combined with the T&B spark extinguishing system.
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- Presses
Cooler for compound feed
Filter systems
Silo
- Presses
Water spray extinguishing systems
The water spray extinguishing systems from T&B detect a fire particularly quickly and distribute the water simultaneously over all nozzles belonging to an extinguishing area. This is why they are often referred to as deluge systems. In the event of a fire, they quickly release large quantities of water, which is distributed evenly over the entire area to be protected. In this way, fires can be extinguished quickly and reliably, even in critical areas.
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- Dryer
- Coolers for compound feed
- Mechanical conveyors and elevators
- Silo
Fire alarm systems
T&B fire alarm systems consist of an intuitive fire alarm control panel that can also be used as an extinguishing control panel. In combination with the robust industrial fire detectors from T&B, it forms a reliable system for safely detecting fires. Whether smoke, flames, heat or combustion gases, with the various fire detectors from T&B, the right fire detection system can be planned for every process.
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- Silo
- Bigbag loading
- Production areas
- Offices
Infrared cameras
T&B infrared cameras are special fire detectors which, unlike conventional fire detectors, are able to monitor large areas and detect incipient fires much earlier. Especially in open spaces or large hall areas, infrared cameras from T&B can offer a decisive advantage in the early detection of fires.
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- Storage facilities
- Warehouses
Please send us your request
Jannis Lange
Sales
