Clouds, toxic

List potential hazardous events for each section (following toe process, answer toe question what can go wrong ) Events may include equipment failure, fire/explosion, toxic gas clouds, toxic liquid/dust spills, and other accidents, such as falls or falling of heavy objects. 

Vapor cloud explosions. Explosions which occur in the open air are vapor cloud explosions. A vapor cloud explosion is one of the most serious hazards in the process industries. Although a large toxic release may have a greater disaster potential, vapor cloud explosions tend to occur more frequently. Most vapor cloud explosions have been the result of leaks of flashing flammable liquids. 

Flammability Acrolein is very flammable its flash point is <0° C, but a toxic vapor cloud will develop before a flammable one. The flammable limits in air are 2.8% and 31.0% lower and upper explosive limits, respectively by volume. Acrolein is only partly soluble in water and will cause a floating fire, so alcohol type foam should be used in firefighting. The vapors are heavier than air and can travel along the ground and flash back from an ignition source. 

The most important polyhydric alcohols are shown in Figure 1. Each is a white soHd, ranging from the crystalline pentaerythritols to the waxy trimethylol alkyls. The trihydric alcohols are very soluble in water, as is ditrimethylol-propane. Pentaerythritol is moderately soluble and dipentaerythritol and tripen taerythritol are less soluble. Table 1 Hsts the physical properties of these alcohols. Pentaerythritol and trimethyl olpropane have no known toxic or irritating effects (1,2). Finely powdered pentaerythritol, however, may form explosive dust clouds at concentrations above 30 g/m in air. The minimum ignition temperature is 450°C (3). 

Health and Safety Aspects. The U.S. EPA has significantly reduced the aHowed levels of antimony compounds in drinking water causing a toxicity cloud over the viabHity of this class of stabilizers. Presently, antimony products are no longer aHowed for use as potable water pipe stabilizers pending completion of NSE International s review (28). Eor these reasons, the future of this stabilizer technology appears limited. 

Health and Safety Factors. Ttimesic acid is an irritant to the skin, eyes, and respiratory system (140). It is mildly toxic when iagested. The oral LD q ia tats has been reported as 8.4 g/kg (141). Ttimesic acid is flammable, and precautions similar to those noted for tetephthaUc acid and isophthahc acid as regards dust clouds and fire extinguishing agents should be followed. 

A solution of sulfur trioxide [7446-11-9] dissolved in chlorosulfonic acid [7990-94-5] CISO H, has been used as a smoke (U.S. designation FS) but it is not a U.S. standard agent (see Chlorosulfuric acid Sulfuric acid and sulfur trioxide). When FS is atomized in air, the sulfur trioxide evaporates from the small droplets and reacts with atmospheric moisture to form sulfuric acid vapor. This vapor condenses into minute droplets that form a dense white cloud. FS produces its effect almost instantaneously upon mechanical atomization into the atmosphere, except at very low temperatures. At such temperatures, the small amount of moisture normally present in the atmosphere, requires that FS be thermally generated with the addition of steam to be effective. FS can be used as a fill for artillery and mortar shells and bombs and can be effectively dispersed from low performance aircraft spray tanks. FS is both corrosive and toxic in the presence of moisture, which imposes limitations on its storage, handling, and use. 

Much of the damage and loss of life in chemical accidents results from the sudden release of material at high pressures which may or may not resiilt from fire. Chemical releases caused by fires and the failure of process equipment and pipelines can form toxic clouds that can be dangerous to people over large areas. 

A material that has a high toxicity does not necessarily present a severe toxic hazard. For example, a ton of lead arsenate spilled in a busy street is unhkely to poison members of the public just a short distance from the spiU, because it is not mobile. It could be carefully recovered and removed and would present a low risk to the gener pubhc, even though it is extremely toxic. On the other hand, a ton of liquefied chlorine spilled on the same street could become about 11,000 fF of pure gas. The IDLH for chlorine is 25 ppm. This is a concentration such that immediate action is required. Thus, the one ton of chlorine, if mixed uniformly with air, could create a cloud of considerable concern, having a volume of about 4.4 X 10 fF or a sphere 770 ft in diameter. This could quickly spread over downwind areas and... 

Introduction Gas dispersion (or vapor dispersion) is used to determine the consequences of a release of a toxic or flammable material. Typically, the calculations provide an estimate of the area affected and the average vapor concentrations expected. In order to make this determination, one must know the release rate of the gas (or the total quantity released) and the atmospheric conditions (wind speed, time of day, cloud cover). 

The aqueous micellai solutions of some surfactants exhibit the cloud point, or turbidity, phenomenon when the solution is heated or cooled above or below a certain temperature. Then the phase sepai ation into two isotropic liquid phases occurs a concentrated phase containing most of the surfactant and an aqueous phase containing a surfactant concentration close to the critical micellar concentration. The anionic surfactant solutions show this phenomenon in acid media without any temperature modifications. The aim of the present work is to explore the analytical possibilities of acid-induced cloud point extraction in the extraction and preconcentration of polycyclic ai omatic hydrocai bons (PAHs) from water solutions. The combination of extraction, preconcentration and luminescence detection of PAHs in one step under their trace determination in objects mentioned allows to exclude the use of lai ge volumes of expensive, high-purity and toxic organic solvents and replace the known time and solvent consuming procedures by more simple and convenient methods. 

Evaporation of a relatively-small volume of liquid in an enclosed space can produce a flatmuable or toxic vapour hazard. Leakage, or spillage, of a chemical maintained as a liquid above its atmospheric boiling point by pressure (e.g. liquefied petroleum gases) or as a liquid by refrigeration (e.g. ammonia) can result in a sizeable vapour cloud. 

TRACE II Toxic Release Analysis of Chemical Emissions Safer Emergency Systems, Inc. Darlene Davis Dave Dillehay 756 Lakefield Road Westlake Villa, CA 91361 (818) 707-2777 Models toxic gas and flammable vapor cloud dispersion. Intended for risk assessment and planning purposes, rather than realtime emergencies. 

In particular, great care must be take when evaluating tradeoffs for a containment building for a flammable and toxic material such as hydrogen cyanide. A leak or fire inside the building could cause a confined vapor cloud explosion which destroys the building. The total risk may actually increase. 

Figure 9.2-2 shows a data input screen in which general characteristics are input by radio buttons and numerical data is typed. The program calculates distances to specified in.sic concentrations and other requested consequence levels automatically. Results are available in a variety of formats including cloud footprints, sideview, cross section, pool evaporation rate, concentration vs distance and heat flux contours. Figure 9.2-3 shows the calculated results as a toxic plume. superimposed on the map with and without oligomerization. 

Lethal range for releases of toxic or explosive materials such as an ammonia spilt on water or land, or explosion or conflagration from a cloud of methane or liquefied petroleum gas... 

Hydrogen fluoride is at present stored in bulk and used at only the Shellhaven refinery, bat future use is envisioned. Hydrogen fluoride boils point 19° C but stored and handled as a hq lie tied gas. Its vapor is highly irritating and toxic. A cold cloud will be denser than air in the early stages when released but wall become neutral or buoyant as it warms with dispersion. This r-sessment assumes negative buoyancy... 

Gas dispersion models provided the toxic effects of chemical releases, fire, or unconfined vapor cloud explosion. 

Different materials pose different hazards, including thermal radiation, explosion overpressure, and toxic and flammable vapor clouds. Some materials pose only one hazard, while others may pose all four. For the purposes of ranking facilities you will need to estimate the laigest area affected by the potential hazards. You can arrive at such an estimate by calculating the greatest downwind distance to a particular level of hazatd. The following thresholds are commonly applied ... 

Toxic hazard IDLH (immediately dangerous to life and health) concentration Flammable vapor cloud Lower flammable limit... 

Facilities can be ranked based on the sum of the maximum hazard distances for each release. Only one hazard distance should be used for each release, even if there is the potential for more than one hazard (thermal radiation, explosion overpressure, toxic cloud and flammable vapor cloud). The highest-ranked facility will be the one whose potential releases would reach the greatest total distance. 

Will die emergency action contain die incident (e g., reduce a toxic cloud, contain a spill) ... 

IIB. toxic cloud extending downwind and affected by weather conditions... 

IIBl. toxic cloud to Uie southwest IIB2. toxic cloud to Uie northeast... 

The standard unit normally used for measuring dust particles is the micron (pm one-thousandth of a millimeter). The smallest particle visible to the unaided eye is between 50 and 100 pm and the most dangerous sizes are between 0.2 and 5 pm. Particles larger than this are usually unable to penetrate the lung defenses and smaller ones settle out too slowly. Some dusts can be both toxic and fibrous (e.g. asbestos) and are therefore harmful even outside these parameters. It may therefore be assumed that dusts which are visible (i.e. between 50 and 100 pm), are quite safe. However, this is not the case, as dust clouds never consist solely of particles of one size. Analysis would show percentages of all sizes, and it is for this reason that special care is needed in measuring dust clouds and concentrations. 

A dust cloud comprising a distribution of particle sizes soon fractionates, e.g. visible matter settles to the ground in a few minutes. Hence the size distribution of airborne particles may differ significantly from that of the source material. (This is particularly relevant to occupational hygiene measurements involving toxic dust emissions.)... 

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