Concentration model for gas releases in buildings and the mitigation effect

In case of accidents involving releases of hazardous materials, calculating the gas dispersion is essential for assessing risks. In general, the leaked chemical is assumed to be instantly dispersed to the atmosphere if the leak occurs in the outdoor location. However, a different approach should be made for the incidents when sources are located inside a building. For the indoor release, the gas will be diluted prior to the release to the atmosphere and the gas release from a building to the atmosphere demands the application of another model before the dispersion calculation. The indoor release model calculates average indoor concentration and volumetric flowrate to the exterior. The model is fast and reasonably accurate compared to rigorous but time-consuming computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models. The model results were compared with experimental data, and CFD simulation results both with simple geometry to demonstrate validation and assess the performance of the indoor release model. Lastly, the behavior and effect of mitigation of indoor release were demonstrated by using the model results.     

Metal Pollution Assessment of Surface Sediments Along a New Gas Pipeline in the Niger Delta (Nigeria)

Chromium, nickel, copper, zinc and cadmium were determined in sediments of the Niger Delta (Nigeria) in order to discriminate between natural metal sources and anthropogenic ones. Surface sediments were collected at seven sites along a new gas pipeline near Port Harcourt, between the New Calabar River and the Bonny River towards Bonny town. Chemical characterisation is obtained by hydrofluoric–nitric acid digestion procedure, providing the ‘total’ (‘residual’) metal contents. Information about the anthropogenic metal fraction was obtained by cold diluted hydrochloric acid extraction procedure. This ‘labile’ acid soluble fraction of metals, perhaps due to relatively recent inputs in the sediments, constitutes the fraction more likely to be available to marine organisms, and furnishes a first evaluation of the possible toxicity of sediments of this sensitive ecosystem. Zinc appears to be the most available of all the heavy metals: its ‘labile’ fraction attains 40–50% of the ‘total’ zinc in sediment. Sites near Port Harcourt city are the most contaminated. All the examined metals are one order of magnitude below the respective values proposed as a limit for toxicity and are comparable with those observed by other authors in similar Niger Delta areas. Some anomalous data found near Port Harcourt city suggest that zinc and cadmium are the metals that require further monitoring. Their anthropogenic source could be derived from urban and industrial sewage.     

直流扩散式燃气燃烧器燃烧特性试验研究

针对目前国内广泛运行的锅壳式燃气锅炉，以在该结构锅炉上大量使用的直流扩散式天然气燃烧器为研究对象，研究了燃气燃烧器在不同负荷、炉膛背压、过量空气系数等参数对锅炉炉膛内火焰燃烧场分布的影响，其试验结果对燃气锅炉的安全经济运行以及燃气燃烧器的结构优化具有重要意义。     

An experimental study for H2S and CO2 removal via caustic scrubbing system

In this study, removal of hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) from simulated syngas has been studied on one column scrubbing system. Gas flow rate as a measure of gas residence time and superficial gas velocity, gas composition, inlet H₂S load, flow modes (countercurrent and cocurrent) and packing geometry were the parameters in the design and/or operation of an acid gas scrubber system. Better H₂S scrubbing efficiencies have been obtained in countercurrent flow mode than that of cocurrent flow mode. When accordingly designed, static mixer with its superior performance on H₂S removal overweighed to structured packings. The coexistence of CO₂ and H₂S has been shown to increase the sodium hydroxide (NaOH) consumption along the scrubber column thereby decreasing the H₂S removal efficiency at higher H₂S loads. The gas residence time as changing with the gas velocity was found to be more dominant on acid gas removal efficiency than the effect of superficial gas velocity within the experimented range. A gas residence times of equal or above 3 s were seemed to be closer to the optimum point.     

Investigation of gas purging process in pipeline by numerical method

Gas purging processes in pipeline safety maintenance were studied using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methods. A new model (model 1) closer to actual working conditions and another two-side injection model were investigated. The simulation results showed that the relative purging efficiency of model 1 decreases compared to the ideal model (model 0), and two-sided injection model increases the efficiency relative to the single sided purging model. In addition, the models with different intake methods, outlet positions, outlet sizes and outlet pressures were simulated. If the outlet is opened after delaying some time, purging efficiency is improved. Furthermore if “relay purging” method is adopted, the efficiency is increased by 18% with two gas inlets and by 11% with a single inlet. The outlet position affects the average velocity in the last purging time. If the outlet diameter is equal or larger than that of the inlet, the purging efficiency is much higher.     

Societal risk acceptance criteria for gas distribution pipelines based on incident data from the United States

A significant number of pipeline operators use pipeline integrity management (PIM) to improve pipeline safety and reliability. Risk assessment is a critical step in PIM, because it determines the necessity of conducting the following steps in PIM for certain pipelines. Risk acceptance criteria are required in the process of risk assessment. Individual risk and societal risk are most frequently adopted as the two indicators of the risk acceptance criteria. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, quantitative societal risk acceptance criteria, especially for gas distribution pipelines, do not exit. The aim of this paper is to establish the societal risk acceptance criteria for gas distribution pipelines. Hence, FN curves were established using historical incident data from 2002 to 2017 provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). Linear regression and the ALARP principle are used in evaluating the limits of the negligible line and intolerable line to obtain a graphical societal risk acceptance criterion for gas distribution pipelines. A line having a slope of −1.224, and an anchor point of (1, 8.413 × 10⁻⁷) is proposed as the negligible line. Further, the intolerable line has a slope of −1.224, and an anchor point of (1, 2.524 × 10⁻⁶). Both the negligible risk and the intolerable risk for the gas distribution pipeline are lower than the current societal risk acceptance criteria for hazardous installations. The reasons for these relatively lower risk acceptance criteria are discussed.     

Environmental effects of oil and gas lease sites in a grassland ecosystem

The northern Great Plains of Saskatchewan is one of the most significantly modified landscapes in Canada. While the majority of anthropogenic disturbances to Saskatchewan’s grasslands are the result of agricultural practices, development of petroleum and natural gas (PNG) resources is of increasing concern for grassland conservation. Although PNG developments require formal assessment and regulatory approval, follow-up and monitoring of the effects of PNG development on grasslands is not common practice. Consequently, the effects of PNG activity on grasslands and the spatial and temporal extent of such impacts are largely unknown. This paper examines the spatial and temporal extent of PNG development infrastructure from 1955 to 2006 in a grassland ecosystem in southwest Saskatchewan. The effects of PNG development on grassland ecology were assessed from measurements of ground cover characteristics, soil properties, and plant community composition at 31sites in the study area. PNG lease sites were found to have low cover of herbaceous plants, club moss (Lycopodiaceae), litter, and shallow organic (Ah) horizons. Lease sites were also characterized by low diversity of desirable grassland plants and low range health values compared to off-lease reference sites. These impacts were amplified at active and highly productive lease sites. Impacts of PNG development persisted for more than 50 years following well site construction, and extended outward 20 m–25 m beyond the direct physical footprint of PNG well infrastructure. These results have significant implications with regard to the current state of monitoring and follow-up of PNG development, and the cumulative effective of PNG activity on grassland ecosystems over space and time.     

Experimental study on CO2/CF3I suppression of methane-air explosion and flame propagation

To explore the inhibitory effects of CF₃I and CO₂ gas on the explosion pressure and flame propagation characteristics of 9.5% methane, a spherical 20 L experimental explosion device was used to study the effect of the gas explosion suppressants on the maximum explosion pressure, maximum explosion pressure rise rate and flame propagation speed of methane. The results indicated that with a gradual increase in the volume fraction of the gas explosion suppressant, the maximum explosion pressure of methane and maximum explosion pressure rise rate gradually decreased, and the time taken to reach the maximum explosion pressure and maximum explosion pressure rise rate was gradually delayed. At the same time, the flame propagation speed gradually decreased. Additionally, the time taken for the flame to reach the edge of the window and the time taken for a crack as well as a cellular structure to appear on the flame surface was gradually delayed. The fluid dynamics uncertainty was suppressed. The explosion pressure and flame propagation processes were markedly suppressed, but the flame buoyancy instability was gradually enhanced. By comparing the effects of the two gas explosion suppressants on the pressure and flame propagation characteristics, it was found that at the same volume fraction, trifluoroiodomethane was significantly better than carbon dioxide in suppressing the explosion of methane. By comparing the reduction rates of the characteristic methane explosion parameters at a volume fraction of 9.5%, it was observed that the inhibitory effect of 4% trifluoroiodomethane on the maximum explosion pressure was approximately 4.6 times that of the same amount of carbon dioxide, and the inhibitory effect of 4% trifluoroiodomethane on the maximum explosion pressure rise rate and flame propagation speed was approximately 2.7 times that of the same amount of carbon dioxide. The addition of 0.5%–1.5% trifluoromethane to 4% and 8% carbon dioxide can improve the explosion suppression efficiency of carbon dioxide. This enhancing phenomenon is a comprehensive manifestation of the oxygen-decreasing effect of carbon dioxide and the trifluoroiodomethane-related endothermic effect and reduction in key free radicals.     

Building urban gas process safety management (UG-PSM) system: Based on root cause analysis with 160 urban gas accidents in China

Urban safety is significantly impacted by the complexity of urban gas accidents. Although China has put forward the goal of “zero fatalities in accidents” for urban gas, unfortunately, the root causes of the unsound safety culture and imperfect safety management system of urban gas enterprises remain unresolved. Therefore, statistical analysis and 24Model analysis of 160 urban gas accidents in mainland China were performed to investigate the proximate causes of the accidents and the current situation of urban gas safety. The CCPS's risk-based process safety elements were used to identify potential deficiencies in the current urban gas process safety management (UG-PSM). During the analysis, it was observed that insufficient implementation of concealed danger investigation and rectification accounted for 76%, which is the primary proximate cause of urban gas accidents. Stakeholder outreach is the most under-represented competency in urban gas safety management. Based on the results, a novel framework for the UG-PSM system was constructed, and the theory of urban gas safety management was further improved. Furthermore, we evaluated the matching degree between UG-PSM elements and the existing measures of the government, urban gas associations, third-party organizations, and urban gas enterprises. Finally, we analyzed the feasibility, challenges, and development directions of the UG-PSM system. This study establishes a foundation for researchers and practitioners in the future research and practice of urban gas process safety and provides theoretical guidance for preventing high-incidence accidents of urban gas in China.