At around 9:25 a.m., a fire broke out in the filter boxes of a glass dryer at a glass recycling company. Firefighters brought the fire under control with three hoses.

The fire damaged 120 acrylic filter bags and the baskets. The filter boxes cleaning and filtration system was destroyed by the heat. Ten employees were temporarily laid off for eight days. The waste produced by the fire (filter bags burnt to cinders) was disposed of and treated offsite. The damaged metal baskets (bag holders) were sent away to be recycled. The firewater was pumped and treated by a specialist company.

At the time of the accident, the treatment line was being restarted. The fire was started by a particle of unknown origin that self-ignited in the bed of material in contact with the hearth of the fluid bed dryer. When the particle reached its self-ignition temperature, it was drawn into the pipe used to carry gases from the top of the dryer’s chamber to the filter. The spark was large enough to keep it incandescent up to the filter, where it ignited the textile filter bags and started the fire.

The operator installed a spark detection system in the aforementioned pipe.

A completely similar accident occurred at another of the group’s sites in January 2015 (ARIA 46167).