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Duringandaccident,processequipmentcanreleasetoxicmaterials
veryquicklyandinsignificantenoughquantitiestospreadindangerous
cloudsthroughoutaplantsiteandthelocalcommunity.Afewexamples
are
Explosiveruptureofaprocessvesselduetoexcessive
pressurecausedbyarunawayreaction.
Ruptureofapipelinecontainingtoxicmaterialsathigh
pressure.
Ruptureofatankcontainingtoxicmaterialstoredaboveits
atmosphericboilingpoint.
Ruptureofatrainortrucktransportationtankfollowingan
accident.
Seriousaccidents(suchasBhopal)emphasizetheimportanceof
emergencyplanningandfordesigningplantstominimizetheoccurrence
andconsequencesofatoxicrelease.Toxicreleasemodelsareroutinely
usedtoestimatetheeffectsofareleaseontheplantandcommunity
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environments.
2
Anexcellentsafetyprogramstrivestoidentifyproblemsbeforethey
occur.Chemicalengineersmustunderstandallaspectsoftoxicreleaseto
preventtheexistenceofreleasesituationsandtoreducetheimpactofa
releaseifoneoccurs.Thisrequiresatoxicreleasemodel.
Thereare3stepsinutilizingatoxicreleasemodel.
1. Identifythedesignbasis.Whatprocesssituationscanleadtoa
release,andwhichsituationistheworst?
2. Developasourcemodeltodescribehowmaterialsarereleased
andtherateofrelease.
3. Useadispersionmodeltodescribehowmaterialsspread
throughouttheadjacentrates.
Themainemphasisofthetoxicreleasemodelistoprovideatool
usefulforreleasemitigation.Thesourceanddispersionmodelspredictthe
areaaffectedandtheconcentrationofvaporthroughout.Thedesignbasis
isvaluableforeliminatingsituationsthatcouldresultinarelease.
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DesignBasis
The design basis describes the various scenarios leading to toxic
release; it looks for what can go wrong. For any reasonably complex
chemical facility, thousands of release scenarios are possible; it is not
practicabletoelucidateeveryscenario.Mosttoxicreleasestudiesstriveto
determinethelargestpracticablereleaseandthelargestpotentialrelease.
The largest practicable release considers releases having a reasonable
chanceforoccurrence.Thisincludespiperuptures,holesinstoragetanks
and process vessels, ground spills, and so forth. The largest potential
release is a catastrophic situation resulting in release of the largest
quantity of material. This includes compete spillage of tank contents,
rupture of large bore piping, explosive rupture of reactors, and so forth.
Table 1 contains examples of largest practicable and largest potential
releases.
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Table1ExamplesofLargestPracticableandLargestPotentialReleases
Largest practicable release : large release with a reasonable chance to
occur.
Rupture of small bore piping, 1-inch maximum.
Partial flange gasket blowout of large diameter piping (for example, 50%
blowout of a 2-inch line resulting in an equivalent hole diameter of 1inch).
Failure of a ? -inch fusible plug on a 1-ton cylinder.
Generally limited release duration (15 minutes typical based on time
required for operator intervention to stop the leak).
Largest potential release : catastrophic release of maximum amount of
material.
Rupture of a 2 or 3 inch liquid line.
Tank truck rupture on a highway (3 or 4 inch hole size assumed, typical).
Typically, entire source vessel inventory spilled.
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Wateristreatedataswimmingpoolusinga100lbbottleofchlorine.The
chlorineisfedfromthebottlethrougha1/4inlinetothewatertreatment
facility.Areliefvalveonthetankpreventsexcessivepressurefrom
rupturingthetank.Chlorineisstoredinthebottleasaliquidunder
pressureandwillboilwhenthepressureisreduced.Identifytherelease
scenarios.
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Scenario1:
Thebottleofchlorineruptures,possiblyfromdropping
thetankwhileunloadingfromatruck.Theentirecontentsisspilled,with
afractionflashingimmediatelyintovaporandtheremainingliquid
formingaboilingpoolontheground.
Scenario2:
Aholeformsinthetankeitherbecauseofmechanical
ruptureorcorrosion.Ajetofflashingchlorineandaboilingpoolof
liquidchlorineforms.
Scenario3:
Thereliefvalvefailsopen,formingajetandpoolof
boilingchlorine.
Scenario4:
Thefeedlinetothetreatmentplantfailswithajetand
poolofboilingchlorine.
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Scenario 5 :
tankuntilthereliefvalveopens.
Scenario6:
Afiredevelopsaroundthechlorinetank,buttherelief
valvefailsclosed.Thetankpressurebuildsuntilitruptures,spillingthe
entiretankcontentsexplosively.
Thelargestpracticablereleasecouldbeeitherscenarios2,3,or4,
dependingontherateofmaterialreleasecomputedusinganappropriate
sourcemodel.Thelargestpotentialreleaseisscenario6,releasingthe
entiretankcontentsalmostimmediately.
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Thepurposeofthesourcemodelisto
1. Theformofmaterialreleased,solid,liquidorvapor;
2. Thetotalquantityofmaterialreleased;and
3. Therateatwhichitisreleased.
This information is required for any quantitative dispersion
modelstudy.
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Figure1Characteristicplumeformedbyacontinuousreleaseofmaterial.
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Figure2Puffformedbynearinstantaneousreleaseofmaterial.
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Figure4Effectofgroundconditionsonverticalwindgradient.
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Figure5Increasedreleaseheightdecreasesthegroundconcentration.
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Figure6Theinitialaccelerationandbuoyancyofthereleasedmaterial
affects the plume character. The dispersion models discussed in this
chapterrepresentonlyambientturbulence.
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u j C = 0
+
t
x j
(1)
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22
whereujisthevelocityoftheairandthesubscriptjrepresentsthe
summationoverallcoordinatedirections,x,y,andz.ifthevelocity,uj,
inEquation1issetequaltotheaveragewindvelocityandtheequation
issolved,onewouldfondthatthematerialdispersesmuchfasterthan
predicted. This is due to turbulence in the velocity field. If one were
able to specify the wind velocity exactly with time and position,
including the effects due to turbulence, Equation 1 would predict the
correctconcentration.Unfortunately,nomodelsarecurrentlyavailable
to adequately describe turbulence. As a result, an approximation is
used. Let the velocity be represented by an average (or mean) and
stochasticquantity;
u j u j u 'j
(2)
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(3)
x j
+ x
u 'j C ' = 0
j
(5)
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Theterms<uj>Canduj<C>arezerowhenaveraged(<<uj>C>=
<uj><C>=0),buttheturbulentfluxterm<ujC>isnotnecessarilyzero
andremainsintheequation.
Anadditionalequationisrequiredtodescribetheturbulentflux.The
usualapproachistodefineaneddydiffusivity,Kj(withunitsofarea/time),
suchthat
u C
K j
(6)
x j
substitutingEquation6intoEquation5yields,
C
t
x j
x j
C
K j
x j
(7)
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Iftheatmosphereisassumedtobeincompressible,
0
(8)
andEquation7becomes
C
C
uj
t
x j
x j
(9)
C
K j
x j
Figure7Steadystate,continuouspointsourcereleasewithwind.Note
coordinate system : x is downwind direction, y is offwind direction ,
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andzisverticaldirection.
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Figure8Puffwithwind.Aftertheinitial,instantaneousrelease,thepuff
moveswiththewind.
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