Design of Automatic Deluge Fire Protection System for Explosive Processing Building

Abstract

Safe handling of raw materials is one of the greatest challenges in the processing of solid propellants. The major raw materials of the solid propellants are metallic fuel, inorganic oxidizer, polymeric binder, plasticizer, cross linking agent, anti-oxidant, curator, and burn rate modifier are processed in various stages. Most of the raw materials are susceptible to cause fire, explosion, or toxicity hazards due to their inherent sensitivity to shock, impact, or spillage. Each processing stage has its variation in degree of risks. If any fire initiation occurs in the processing stage, it leads to fire accident or severe explosion. It affects the personnel, equipment inside facility, and extends to the surrounding facilities. To reduce the effects of fire accident or severe explosion and prevent consequences (damages), an effective fire protection system is to be installed in the facility. The fire protection system includes sprinkler system, deluge system, fire hydrants, and water monitors. The selection, design, water demand, and pump selection depend on the degree of risk and explosive handling class. Comparing with other fire protection system, UN hazardous class HD 1.3 explosives handling facility, it requires deluge system with fire hydrants and water monitors. In this work, we have designed an effective deluge system that considers the floor area, water demand of the facility, number of nozzles inside the facility.