Carbon dioxide – a potentially explosive smoldering silo fire suppressant

As counter-intuitive as it may sound, there are explosion hazards associated with releasing liquid carbon dioxide (CO₂) into environments where an ignitable atmosphere may exist. For instance when attempting to suppress a smouldering fire in a pellet silo. A recent paper by Dr Frank Huess Hedlund, Risk Expert at Danish engineering consultants Cowi and External Associate Professor at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), explains why CO₂ is a safe inert purge gas but may be unsafe for inerting.