Report of Investigations 9626: A 20-Liter Furnace Test Method to Determine the Combustion Gas Toxicity of Conveyor Belts

Details

• Journal Article:
  Pittsburgh, PA: U.S. Department of Energy, RI 9626
• Personal Author:
  De Rosa, Maria I.
• Description:
  Experiments were conducted with mine conveyor belt samples in a 20 liter furnace and in a laboratory fire tunnel to measure and compare the major toxic gas concentrations evolved during the combustion of the materials. The toxic gases identified included hydrogen-chloride (7647010) (HCl), hydrogen-cyanide (74908) (HCN), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and carbon-monoxide (630080) (CO). The toxic gas yields were used to calculate a toxicity index parameter to assess the potential gas toxicity of belt materials during a fire. The toxicity index and the mass loss burning rate values were used to calculate a toxicity hazard parameter to estimate the toxic gas hazard produced by a burning belt in a ventilated system. The study results indicate that polyvinyl-chloride (PVC) belts release higher HCl concentrations due to their higher chlorine content. Styrene-butadiene rubber belts released higher CO, HCN, and NOx concentrations due to their higher carbon and nitrogen contents. The toxic indexes were greater for the PVC belts due to the higher HCl levels produced. The fire tunnel data indicated that the styrene/butadiene rubber belt can burn with higher mass loss rates than the PVC belts, resulting in a potentially higher toxic hazard even though their toxicity index values were lower than those of the PVC belts. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Fires Hazardous Substances Mining Occupational Health Safety Styrene Temperature
• Keywords:
  Mining-industry; Mining-equipment; Toxic-gases; Combustion-gases; Combustion-products; Mine-fires; Oxides; Styrene-butadiene-resins; Thermal-decomposition; Underground-mining; Combustible-materials; Fire-assays
• Source:
  Pittsburgh, PA: U.S. Department of Energy, Bureau of Mines, RI 9626, 1996 Jun; :1-10
• Series:
  Mining Publications
• Subseries:
  Report of Investigations
• ISSN:
  1066-5552
• Publisher:
  U.S. Department of Energy, Bureau of Mines
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  PRC - Pittsburgh Research Center
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  15 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00233937
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB96-202619
• CAS Registry Number:
  Carbon monoxide (CAS RN 630-08-0) ; Hydrochloric acid (CAS RN 7647-01-0) ; Hydrogen cyanide (CAS RN 74-90-8) ; Nitrogen dioxide (CAS RN 10102-44-0)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1996
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:4c3d3fb502d1d6795bcfe16a39e99c955d12870f4f2fd26aa4ac4a169607e3ff31c335051408f4831da4285c4a15f930cf7f9f9ad06156a1f5b0078b6503c7ac
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/8574/cdc_8574_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 219.47 KB ]