Summary
A gas phase explosion in a storage tower with semichemical pulp at a paper mill has possibly been caused by combustion of a mixture of hydrogen and air. The hydrogen was formed by microorganisms in the pulp. Ignition may be due to electric sparks in connection with an electric field in the mist above the pulp.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Freytag, H.H. (1965), Handbuch der Raumexplosionen, Weinheim, Verlag Chemie.
Hamer, G., Heden, C.G., and Carenberg, C.O. (1967), Biotechnol. Bioeng. 9, 499–514.
Lafferty, R.M., Moser, A., and Steiner, W. (1975), Die Gewinnung von Einzel lerprotein unter Verwendung von Knallgasbakterien. In: 1. Symposium Mikrobielle Proteingewinnung. Braunschweig-Stöckheii, 1975. F. Wagner ed. pp 87–92. Weinheim/Bergstrasse: Verlag Chemie.
Wise, D.L., Coony, C.L., and Augenstein, D.C. (1978), Biotecnnol. Bioeng. 20 pp 1153–1172.
Zajic, J.E., Kosaric, N., and Brosseau, J.D. (1978), Microbial production of Hydrogen. In Advances in Biochemical Engineering, T.K. Ghose, A. Fichter and N. Blakebrough eds. 9, pp 57–110, Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer Verlag.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Eidsaa, G., Johnsen, K. & Tangen, R. An explosion caused by microbial hydrogen formation. Biotechnol Lett 1, 31–34 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01395787
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01395787