Nitrogen Piping
Nitrogen Piping
(OP)
Is it possibe to design a low cost Nitrogen Application System for applying nitrogen at the base of a silo (60 feet diameter x 70 feet tall)through strategically placed diffusersin a large stockpile of wood pellets as a fire suppression system to minimize oxygen levels if internal temperatured are approaching dangerous levels?
My thoughts are to have the piping in place and call local Air Products to deliver nitrogen by truck tanker to connect.
Any commets would be apprecated.
My thoughts are to have the piping in place and call local Air Products to deliver nitrogen by truck tanker to connect.
Any commets would be apprecated.





RE: Nitrogen Piping
The concept sounds good - it would be easy enough to hook up a truck and offload liquid nitrogen (LIN) directly without even running the pump on the truck, just using pressure in the tanker. Note that the tankers don't have any way of vaporizing the LIN so either you need to provide a vaporizer or you will have to dump cryogenic LIN into the fire; which might not be a bad solution actually. If you put in a permanent system, and need a truck to make the delivery, and knowing you want to dump cryogenic LIN on the fire, you will also need to consider materials of construction along with thermal contraction of the pipe. Generally, copper pipe is used and the joints silver soldered. Depending on the temperature the fire might get, it may be too hot for these copper joints. Another option is stainless steel welded pipe or even stainless tubing with compression fittings. Steel pipe can't be used if it will be exposed to cryogenic temperature.
Another concern you may have is how quickly they could get a truck on site. Generally, LIN deliveries are made to regular customer tanks and scheduled a few days in advance so an oddball like this may not get scheduled right away, so you would need to discuss this with them.
You might consider having a small amount of LIN on site depending on how much you need. One or more 200 to 500 liter dewars of LIN isn't very expensive, and could be hooked up and swapped out every month or two. These are transportable cylinders that can be fork lifted and rolled around on castors. Boil off is about 1 to 2 % per day. If you need much more than that, the smallest cryogenic tanks start at around 500 gallons and go up from there.
RE: Nitrogen Piping
A couple of options,
h
http://www.onsitegas.com/products-details.asp?ID=7
From "BigInch's Extremely simple theory of everything."
RE: Nitrogen Piping
RE: Nitrogen Piping
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Nitrogen Piping
RE: Nitrogen Piping
RE: Nitrogen Piping
Check it out. You don't need much - even if expensive.
RE: Nitrogen Piping
RE: Nitrogen Piping
And hold safety training, a purged silo is DANGEROUS. Some knucklehead will drop a wrench or his wallet into a full bin, and want to climb down in to retrieve it. Then one or 2 more guys will try to help out with the downed guys. Truple fatality in less than a minute. Teach them that you feel distressed in moderate consentrations, and fall over unconsious during your second breath in high concentrations -- no time to decide to leave.
RE: Nitrogen Piping
Use only personnel that have had confined space physicals and training
Set up a hoist over the opening
Tie the person to the line
Have someone standing by at the hoist
Take oxygen measurements at different heights within the space using a portable oxygen meter-before allowing entry
Provide each person inside with a portable oxygen meter
Person on top constantly talks to personnel inside
Provide fresh air with a fan and collapsible ductwork
I have probably left out a few steps. I have not done an entry myself.
Sounds extreme? Would you rather call the person's wife and tell her that her husband came to work, but won't be coming home?
I wonder if oxygen levels would deplete naturally. Reminds me of the advice to keep oily rags in an airtight container to prevent spontaneous combustion.