Modeling Small Releases from Tanks

The methodologies in the chapter on “Dispersion Modeling” in the CCPS book Guidelines for Consequence Analysis of Chemical Releases, provide means for modeling outdoors releases at relatively long distances from a large source. At times it is necessary to model releases at relatively short distances from a small source. Making the assumption that the model as developed is valid at the near range, it was used to demonstrate that very low levels of ethanol are emitted from indoor mixing tanks and that accidental operator exposure to hydrogen bromide fumes in a lithium bromide manufacturing operation is acceptably safe. This paper presents the development, implementation, and results of using the model for small releases from tanks.