ABSTRACT
The statistics of industrial accidents show that drying should be regarded as a potentially hazardous operation that has brought a number of reported incidents with serious results for personnel and equipment [1,2]. The data indicate that the accident rate per 105 workers at risk is considerably greater in the food industry than, e.g., in the chemical industry. Approximately 8%–9% of all dust explosions in the food industry is related to the drying operation (Figure 56.1). The other data for the period 1967-1983 in the German sugar
industry indicate that drying contributes to 37% of all accidents [3], whereas in the French milk industry an average of four major accidents in spray dryers were reported annually [4]. Based on 89 accidents that happened in 1965-2000, 415 people were injured and 16 fatalities were reported in The Accident Database [5]. It is worth to note that in most cases of spray dryer accident in the food industry re was observed whereas an explosion experienced in <10% [6]. The above reports underline the importance of safety from re and explosion hazards in dryers and in the ancillary equipment.
