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ARS Home » Plains Area » Las Cruces, New Mexico » Cotton Ginning Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #417597
Research Project: Improving the Production and Processing of Western and Long-Staple Cotton and Companion Crops to Enhance Quality, Value, and Sustainability

Location: Cotton Ginning Research

Title: Combustibility of walnut huller and sheller facility dust

Author
item Whitelock, Derek
item Tumuluru, Jaya Shankar
item Armijo, Carlos

Submitted to: ASABE Annual International Meeting
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/26/2024
Publication Date: 7/26/2024
Citation: Whitelock, D.P., Tumuluru, J., Armijo, C.B. 2024. Combustibility of walnut huller and sheller facility dust. ASABE Annual International Meeting, 07/28-31/2024, Anaheim, California. Presentation only.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Fires and/or explosions at agricultural facilities have been an issue across the world. While some agricultural industries like sugar and grain handling facilities have had issues with fires or explosions and have been subject to regulations on dusts for many years, many other agricultural processors have had no issues with dust fires or explosions. It may be surprising to hear that walnut dust is designated as combustible by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and some local governments, and insurance companies have attempted to apply that designation to dust at walnut huller and sheller facilities. Facilities that generate potentially combustible dusts must abide by National Fire Protection Association standards that require expensive sprinkler systems and approved dust control systems (costing $100,000 to over $1 million dollars in some cases) and may have difficulties obtaining approval for building permits and insurance coverage. At the request of the Western Agricultural Processors Association, ARS researchers in Las Cruces, New Mexico, conducted tests to determine the combustibility of dust from walnut hulling and shelling facilities. These tests showed that walnut dusts were not combustible and therefore not an explosion hazard. These results should enable the industry to keep walnut huller and sheller dusts from being classed as combustible and help clear the way for construction of new walnut processing plants and save the industry many thousands of dollars for needless fire and explosion suppression hardware and practices.