Standards Development

Scope

This International Standard specifies a method for determining the amount of material passing through a sieve with 3,15 mm diameter round holes. It is intended for use in all applications (e.g. laboratories, production sites, field locations) where the measurement of fines is required.

Purpose

The fines content is an important parameter since excessive amounts of fines in consignments of pellets increases the risk for dust explosions, can cause problems in transportation systems and/or during combustion, and may also cause health problems if the dust is inhaled.

The new standard shall replace the existing ISO 18846. The existing standard describes the procedure to analyse the amount of fines in pellet samples. A main problem of the existing standard is that some parameters of the analytical procedure are open for interpretation and could lead to different results when the analysis is done by various persons. Additionally, when large amounts of fines are present the procedure may underestimate the amount of fines present.

The main aims of the new standard:

- give precise instructions for the conduction of the analytical procedure

- include provisions that allow for additional sieving when samples are expected to have a larger amount of fines

- Include precision data from a round robin about the repeatability and reproducibility of the method

- Include a procedure for the determination of coarse pellet fines, which can affect the handling and combustion properties of the fuel

- Include instructions how to proceed for the determination of smaller fines fractions (e.g. 1 mm or 0,5 mm) which could cause health problems if they are inhaled or be relevant for the risk of dust explosions.