See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/319114497

Dispersion Modeling of Accidental Release of Chlorine Gas

Conference Paper · December 2014

CITATIONS READS

2 1,806

3 authors:

Rajesh Paul Animesh Mondal

North Carolina State University Auburn University
8 PUBLICATIONS   14 CITATIONS    2 PUBLICATIONS   2 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Shoukat Choudhury
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology
77 PUBLICATIONS   1,108 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Accidental Ammonia Release Modeling from Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Company (SAFCO), Saudi Arabia View project

Part of my PhD project. View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Rajesh Paul on 15 August 2017.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Proceedings of the
International Conference on Chemical Engineering 2014
ICChE2014, 29-30 December, Dhaka, Bangladesh

DISPERSION MODELING OF ACCIDENTAL RELEASE OF

CHLORINE GAS

Rajesh Paul 1*, Animesh Mondal 2, M.A.A. Shoukat Choudhury

1
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka, Bangladesh.
2
Auburn University, Alabama, United States

This study investigates the impact of accidental release of Chlorine gas in surrounding areas. The impact is
studied using standard dispersion modeling techniques considering various locations with different surface
conditions (urban or rural) in different seasons and meteorological conditions. The affected areas which are
harmful to human exposures at different levels are detected using Areal Locations of Hazardous
Atmospheres (ALOHA) Software. The affected areas are divided into three level of concerns namely red
zone, orange zone, yellow zone. Red zone is the affected area in which there is severe concentration of toxic
gas and exposure to which may cause life threatening health effects or even death. Exposure to Orange Zone
may cause long lasting adverse health effects and in Yellow zone average individual may feel notable
discomfort, irritation but reversible upon cessation of exposure. The modeling was performed for an
accidental release of 1.6 tons chlorine gas from a horizontal cylindrical tank lasting for one hour. For a
typical summer atmospheric condition of Bangladesh, this accidental chlorine release would cause a red
zone of 1.1 kilometers, orange zone of 3.6 kilometers and yellow zone stretching to 7.0 kilometers to
downwind from the source. Variation in the different threat zones are observed in the article due to change in
temperature, wind velocity and surface roughness (ground condition).

1. INTRODUCTION modeling are used to determine the consequences

The airborne transport of toxic material away from
the accident site is described by dispersion
modeling. So, public safety responders and
emergency management personnel use toxic gas
dispersion models for emergency planning of
accidental chemical releases. Bosanquet and
Pearson (1936) derived the early air pollutant
plume dispersion equations. However, they did not
assume Gaussian distribution for pollutants
dispersion. Sutton (1947) derived plume dispersion
equation for pollutants by including the assumption
of Gaussian distribution for the vertical and
crosswind dispersion of the pollutant. Afterwards,
Gaussian dispersion model has been modified by
many researchers and computer programs have
been developed using this model for calculating the
dispersions of the pollutants. Eidsvik (1980)
proposed heavy gas dispersion model for released
gases that are heavier than air. Initial behavior of a
heavy gas will be different from a neutrally buoyant
gas. Initially a heavy gas will sink because it is
heavier than the surrounding air. As the gas cloud
moves downwind, it becomes diluted and its
density reduces and it begins to behave like a
neutrally buoyant gas. The results of dispersion
of accidental releases of hazardous or toxic
materials e.g. location of impacted areas, ambient
concentrations. Labovský and Jelemenský (2010)
presented CFD simulation by Fluent 6.3 for
dispersion modeling of released ammonia from a
pressurized storage tank. Labovský and Jelemenský
(2011) also compared simulation results with the
results obtained by Fladis field experiments (1997).
Fladis field experiments were carried out by the
Risø National Laboratory for liquefied ammonia
leakage. Shuxia et al. (2012) analyzed the
consequence of liquefied ammonia leakage on
environment using software ALOHA (Areal
Locations of Hazardous Atmospheres). In this
study, chlorine (Cl2) is considered a pollutant gas
for dispersion modeling since it is one of the most
commonly produced and used industrial chemicals
in the world. It is a greenish yellow gas and heavier
than air. Usually, it is pressurized and cooled for
storage and shipment as liquid. In this study,
Software ALOHA is used for dispersion modeling
of released chlorine gas. It displays the estimation
as three threat zones (red zone, orange zone and
yellow zone), where toxicity of chlorine exceeded
user-specified level of concern. In this study, Acute
Exposure Guideline Levels (AEGLs) are used to
define the toxicity level of concerns for three threat

*
Corresponding Author: Rajesh Paul,
E-mail: rajesh07@che.buet.ac.bd
zones with an exposure time of 60 minutes.
ALOHA uses the heavy gas dispersion model to
calculate the concentration of released chlorine.
Chlorine gas is heavier than air and its initial
behavior will be different from a neutrally buoyant
gas. In this paper, section 2 describes dispersion
techniques of the pollutants; software selection is
discussed in section 3 and section 4 presents
modeling of released chlorine in the surrounding
areas for a hypothetical accident. The effects of
wind velocity, temperature and surface roughness
on dispersion is also observed in section 4.
2. DISPERSION TECHNIQUES
The airborne transport of toxic material away from
the accident site is carried away by the wind as a
Plume or puff. The continuous release of a toxic
material forms plume. In hydrodynamics, a plume
is a column of one fluid moving through another.
When a plume moves away from its source, it
usually widens due to entrainment of the
surrounding fluid at its edges. The motion of the
fluid is controlled by wind velocity, buoyancy and
momentum of the released material, ground
condition, atmospheric conditions, and release
height above the ground., The released material is
carried downwind faster and a plume becomes
larger and narrower whenever there exists higher
wind velocity. On the other hand, puff model
describes the temporal concentration of a material
from the sudden release of a fixed amount of the
material. A large vapour cloud moves downwind
from the release point and dissipates by mixing
with fresh air.
For instantaneous release of a material of fixed
mass into air, Equation 1, together with appropriate
boundary and initial conditions, forms the
fundamental basis for dispersion modeling (Crowl
and Louvar, 2002).
It is assumed that no reaction or molecular
diffusion occurs. Where, c is the concentration of
the material due to release, Kj is the eddy
diffusivity, uj is the air velocity and the subscript j
represents the summation over all coordinate
directions x, y and z. The x-axis is the centerline
directly downwind from the release point and is
rotated for different wind directions. The y-axis is
the distance off of the centerline and the z-axis is
the elevation above the release point. So, the point
(x, y, z) = (0, 0, 0) is at the release point.
3. SOFTWARE SELECTION
214
Among the wide varieties of available software the
ALOHA has been used to calculate the
concentration of the released chlorine. It is a
program designed to model chemical releases for
emergency responders and planners. ALOHA
allows modeling of many release scenarios: toxic
gas clouds, Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor
Explosions (BLEVE), jet fires, vapor cloud
explosions and pool fires. Depending on the release
scenario, ALOHA evaluates the corresponding type
of hazard. ALOHA displays its estimate as a threat
zone, which is an area where hazards (such as
toxicity, flammability, thermal radiation or
damaging overpressure) exceed a user-specified
level of concern. It is possible to generate a variety
of scenario-specific outputs, including threat zone
plots, threats at specific locations and source
strength graphs. ALOHA also defines its limitation
clearly and state the reason behind. For example it
cannot make predictions further than 10 kilometers
downwind from a release point. There are several
reasons that imposed this limitation on ALOHA.
The primary reason for this cutoff is related to the
equations ALOHA uses to predict threat zone
length.
4. DISPERSION MODELING OF
CHLORINE GAS
Chlorine is used in different purposes such as
bleaching agent, in the preparation of chlorides,
chlorinated solvents, pesticides, polymers, synthetic
rubbers and refrigerants. It is a greenish yellow gas
and heavier than air. Chlorine is a respiratory
irritant. The severity of health effects depend upon
the route of exposure, the dose and the duration of
exposure to Chlorine. Following chlorine exposure,
the most common symptoms are: airway irritation,
wheezing, breathing difficulty, sore throat, cough,
chest tightness, eye irritation, skin irritation etc.
4.1 Toxic Levels of Concern (LOCs)
Selection
Toxic Levels of Concern (LOCs) is used to assess
the toxicity threat of a chemical release. A toxic
LOC indicates threshold concentration of exposure
to a chemical that could hurt people if they breathe
it in for a defined length of time. Generally, the
lower the toxic LOC value for a substance, the
more toxic the substance is by inhalation. The most
common public exposure guidelines are Acute
Exposure Guideline Levels (AEGLs), Emergency
Response Planning Guidelines (ERPGs) and
Temporary Emergency Exposure Limits (TEELs).
In this study, Acute Exposure Guideline Levels
(AEGLs) concentrations are used to define the toxic
zones. AEGLs are the best public exposure LOCs
available to date and all three tiers (AEGL-1,
AEGL-2, and AEGL-3) are developed for five
exposure periods: 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 60
minutes, 4 hours and 8 hours.
Table 1: AEGLs for Chlorine exposure in ppm.
Exposure Toxic level
Time
AEGL-3 AEGL-2 AEGL-1
10 minutes 50 2.8 0.5
30 minutes 28 2.8 0.5
60 minutes 20 2.0 0.5
4 hours 10 1.0 0.5
8 hours 7.1 0.71 0.5
AEGL-3 is the airborne concentration (expressed as
ppm or mg/m3) of a substance above which it is
predicted that the general population could
experience life-threatening health effects or death.
AEGL-2 is the airborne concentration (expressed as
ppm or mg/m3) of a substance above which it is
predicted that the general population could
experience irreversible or other serious, long-
lasting adverse health effects. AEGL-1 is the
airborne concentration (expressed as ppm or
mg/m3) of a substance above which it is predicted
that the general population could experience
notable discomfort and irritation. However, the
effects are not disabling and are transient and
reversible upon cessation of exposure.
4.2 Dispersion Modeling of Chlorine Release
4.2.1 Release Description: This describes a
hypothetical case of chlorine release from Global
Heavy Chemicals Limited, a Chlor-alkali plant
situated at keranigonj in Dhaka. Let’s assume that
due to leakage in a storage tank, approximately 1.6
tons of chlorine was directly released into the
atmosphere from the storage through a circular
hole with a diameter of 1 inch. The diameter of
the cylindrical storage tank is 6 feet and the length
is 15 feet. The temperature is 31oC, in presence of
the wind travelling from the southeast direction at
7.5 miles per hour. The sky is assumed to be more
than half covered by clouds and the humidity is 75
percent.
4.2.2 Results: Figure 1 shows the ALOHA's threat
zone plot for one hour accidental release of 1.6 tons
of chlorine from a horizontal cylindrical tank. The
area is considered an open country. On the plot the
red, orange and yellow regions represent the areas
where chlorine concentrations are predicted to
exceed the corresponding LOC values (the AEGL
values for 60 minutes exposure time) at some time
after the release begins.
215
 The red (AEGL-3) threat zone which is the
area with the greatest exposure level is
predicted to extend more than 1 km
downwind the source.
 The orange (AEGL-2) threat zone is
predicted to extend more than 3.5 km
downwind of the source.
 The yellow (AEGL-1) threat zone is
predicted to extend 7 km
4.2.3 Effect of Wind Velocity: The dispersion of a
fluid in air depends on wind velocity. In presence
of higher wind velocity, the released material is
carried downwind faster and a plume becomes
larger and narrower. For the described hypothetical
chlorine release, results of the variation of wind
speed on the dispersion of toxic chlorine gas in air
are presented in Table 2.
Table 2: Variation of different threat zones with
wind velocities
Wind Red Orange Yellow
velocity Zone Zone Zone
(mph) (Km) (Km) (Km)
6.5 1.5 5.0 9.9
7.5 1.1 3.6 7.0
8.5 1.1 3.5 6.7
10 0.99 3.3 6.3
12 0.90 3.0 5.9
From Table 2, it is observed that the length of red
zone (average chlorine concentration in 60 minutes
is more than 20 ppm), orange zone (average
chlorine concentration in 60 minutes is more than 2
ppm) and yellow zone (average chlorine
concentration in 60 minutes is more than 0.5 ppm)
decrease with increasing wind velocity due to
higher washout of plume by higher wind velocity.
With the help of higher wind velocity, the released
gas is dispersed in the larger area within a short
span of time reducing the area of higher
concentration.
4.2.4 Effect of Surface Roughness: Surface
roughness is the roughness of the ground over
which a pollutant cloud moves. Degree of ground
roughness depends on the size and number of
roughness elements, which can range in size
starting from blades of grass to buildings. Ground
conditions affect mechanical mixing at the surface
and the wind profile with height (Crowl and
Louvar, 2002). Trees and buildings increase mixing
while lakes and open areas decrease it. For the
described hypothetical chlorine release case, results
of the variation of surface roughness on the
dispersion of toxic chlorine gas in air are presented
in Table 3. Ground roughness increases mechanical
mixing, roughness elements for example buildings,
trees increase mixing of air and the pollutant cloud
and dilute the pollutant gas. So, from Table 3, it is
observed that threat zones become smaller with
increasing surface roughness.
4.2.5 Effect of Temperature: Atmospheric
stability depends on air temperature (Turner, 1973).
Atmospheric stability relates to vertical mixing
during the day when air temperature decreases
rapidly with height and encouraging vertical
motion. The atmosphere may be more or less
turbulent at any given time, depending on the
amount of incoming solar radiation. For the
described hypothetical chlorine release case, results
of the variation of temperature on the dispersion of
toxic chlorine gas in air are presented in Table 4.
Moderate to strong incoming solar radiation heats
air near the ground causing it to rise and generates
large eddies. Therefore, from Table 4 it is observed
that chlorine gas is dispersed more at higher
temperature. Thereby threat zones increase with air
temperature. On the other hand, for relatively weak
solar radiation, air near the surface has a reduced
tendency to rise and less turbulence develops.

Figure 1: Different threat zones (red, orange and yellow zone) for Chlorine release.

Table 3: Variation of different threat zones with Table 4: Variation of different threat zones with
surface roughness. Temperatures.
Surface Red Yellow Temperature Red Orange Yellow
roughness, Zone Zone (0C) Zone Zone Zone
Z0 (cm) (Km) (Km) (Km) (Km) (Km)
3 (Open country) 1.1 7.0 18 0.94 3.1 6.0
5 1.1 6.7 25 1.0 3.4 6.4
8 0.99 6.3 31 1.1 3.6 7.0
10 0.96 6.2 37 1.3 3.8 7.5
50 0.96 6.2

216
 5. CONCLUSIONS
Dispersion modeling of released chlorine gas from
a horizontal cylindrical storage tank is carried out
using software ALOHA. For accidental release of
1.6 tons chlorine gas from a horizontal cylindrical
tank through a hole of diameter 1 inch, affected
area is divided into red zone, orange zone and
yellow zone.
 The length of red zone (average chlorine
concentration in 60 minutes is more than 20
ppm) has been estimated to be 1.1 kilometers,
orange zone (average chlorine concentration in
60 minutes is more than 2 ppm) 3.6 kilometers
and yellow zone (average chlorine
concentration in 60 minutes is more than 0.5
ppm) 7 kilometers, respectively downwind from
the source.
 With all other conditions constant, a threat zone
is likely to be smaller with increasing ground
roughness and wind velocity.
 The length of a threat zone is likely to rise with
increasing temperature as temperature affects
atmospheric stability.
Though average atmospheric conditions of
Bangladesh have been taken into account for the
formulation of this modeling, the real situation may
differ from the average value leading to a
considerable change in the results. So care must be
taken in the interpretation of the results.
REFERENCES
1. “Acute Exposure Guideline Levels (AEGLs)”,
viewed on January 2013.
<http://www.epa.gov/oppt/aegl/ index.htm>
217
View publication stats
2. Bosanquet, C. H., & Pearson, J. L. (1936).
“The spread of smoke and gases from
chimneys”. Trans. Faraday Soc., 32, 1249-
1263.
3. Crowl, D. A., & Louvar, J. F. (2002). Chemical
process safety: fundamentals with applications.
Pearson Education, 2002.
4. Eidsvik, K. J. (1980). “A model for heavy gas
dispersion in the atmosphere”. Atmospheric
Environment (1967), 14(7), 769-777.
5. Labovský, J., & Jelemenský, L. (2010). “CFD
simulations of ammonia dispersion using
dynamic boundary conditions”. Process Safety
and Environmental Protection, 88(4), 243-252.
6. Labovský, J., & Jelemenský, L. (2011).
“Verification of CFD pollution dispersion
modelling based on experimental data”.
Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process
Industries, 24(2), 166-177.
7. Li, S., Sun, X., & Liu, L. (2012) “The
ALOHA-based Consequence Analysis of
Liquefied Ammonia Leakage Accident”.
8. Mondal, A. and Paul, R. (2013), Dispersion
Modelling of Accidental Release of Toxic
Gases, B. Sc. Engg. thesis, Bangladesh
University of Engineering & Technology,
Dhaka
9. Nielsen, M., Ott, S., Jørgensen, H. E.,
Bengtsson, R., Nyrén, K., Winter, S., ... &
Jones, C. (1997). “Field experiments with
dispersion of pressure liquefied ammonia”.
Journal of hazardous materials, 56(1), 59-105.
10. Sutton, O. G. “The theoretical distribution of
airborne pollution from factory chimneys.”
Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological
Society 73.317‐318 (1947): 426-436.
11. Turner, D. B. (1973). Workbook of
atmospheric dispersion estimates. US
Government Printing Office.