Emission rates, ALOHA simulation and Box-Behnken design of accidental releases in butyl acrylate tank - case study

The leakage of hazardous compounds in chemical industries has always been one of the factors threatening workers, plants, and the environment. Among them, butyl acrylate is one of the most harmful materials that are widely used in chemical plants. In the present study, a butyl acrylate tank located in a real tank farm in Kocaeli-Turkey was analyzed for the examination of emissions and trinitrotoluene (TNT) equivalent explosion model of the vapor cloud. Areal Locations of Hazardous Atmospheres (ALOHA) program was used to define threat zones of butyl acrylate leakage based on different scenarios, such as a leakage from the tank without fire, burning as a jet fire, and also burning as a fireball during Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion (BLEVE). In addition, since the most important parameters that enhance the effects of explosion and the spread of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are wind speed, filling ratio of the tanks, and temperature, the interaction of these parameters on the threat zones and the highest threat zones of explosions were investigated using the Box-Behnken experimental design and one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), respectively. As butyl acrylate, one of the most dangerous chemicals for industrial facilities, and its explosion effects have not been studied so far, it can be safely mentioned that this paper representing the first study in the literature is highly original and novel.