Studi Numerik Dispersi Debu untuk Mengidentifikasi Potensi Dust Explosion di Warehouse Biomassa

Abstract

Biomass is a renewable energy source that is environmentally friendly and can replace the use of fossil fuel energy sources. One of the biomasses that is currently widely used is rice husks as biomass boiler fuel. However, the use of rice husks as fuel also poses a number of challenges such as the risk of dust explosions which can occur due to the presence of rice husk dust suspended in the air and finding an ignition source. The aim of this research is to simulate the dispersion of dust concentrations suspended in warehouse biomass so that it can be known which areas are at risk of dust explosions so that preventive measures can be taken. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) numerical studies were carried out using OpenFOAM software to model the distribution of dust concentration in the warehouse by considering various important parameters such as air flow velocity, dust particle size distribution, and dust emission sources originating from moving floors. The research results show that there are areas with high dust concentrations, especially in the area around the right side of the moving floor with a dust concentration of around 56-198 g/m3 which meets the Minimum Explosive Concentration (MEC), thereby creating a risk of dust explosions.