Accidental Continuous Releases from Coal Processing in Semi-Confined Environment

Abstract

Notwithstanding the enforcement of ATEX EU Directives (94/9/EC of 23 March 1994) and safety management system application, explosions in the coal sector still claim lives and cause huge economic losses. Even a consolidated activity like coke dry distillation allows the opportunity of preventing explosion risk connected to fugitive emissions of coke oven gas. Considering accidental releases under semi-confined conditions, a simplified mathematical approach to the maximum allowed gaseous build-up is developed on the basis of the intrinsic hazards of the released compound. The results will help identifying and assessing low rate release consequences therefore to set-up appropriate prevention and control measures. The developed methodology was tested at the real-scale and validated by numerical computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations showing the effectiveness of the methodology to evaluate and mitigate the risk connected to confined hazardous releases.

Ventilation System Influence on Hydrogen Explosion Hazards in Industrial Lead-Acid Battery Rooms

“…CFD simulations can be applied for the most rigorous treatment of the physics of fluid dispersion within the framework of risk assessment [15]. In relation to CFD modelling of the hydrogen dispersion phenomena, several investigations and code validations are described.…”

LPG Cars in a Car Park Environment—How to Make It Safe

“…The risk level in the case of flammable gas release depends on the gas flammability and its dispersion abilities in confined spaces [13,14]. Because of the lack of any statistics on the accidental failure of LPG car installations, the important data in this field is based on surveys from vehicle technical control stations, where each car has to be tested at least once a year.…”

Palazzi, E.; Currò, F.; Fabiano, B. Accidental Continuous Releases from Coal Processing in Semi-Confined Environment. Energies 2013, 6, 5003–5022

“…The authors wish to make the following corrections, due to typographical errors, to this paper [1]. On page 5007, line 17, the sentence "…for which the threshold value is 0.2 Pa" should be "…for which the threshold value is 0.2 bar".…”