Powder aerosols generated by accidents: pressurized release experiments.

Area of Science:

• Environmental science
• Industrial safety engineering
• Aerosol science

Background:

• Accurate estimation of airborne releases is crucial for facility safety assessments and environmental impact statements.
• Investigating aerosols from accidental releases helps define source terms for potential scenarios.
• Pressurized powder release is a significant severe accidental release event to study.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate aerosol generation from pressurized powder releases.
• To determine the mass airborne and particle size distribution as a function of source size and containment pressure.
• To develop relationships for estimating releases in static air.

Main Methods:

• Conducted pressurized powder release experiments in static air.
• Measured the mass of airborne powder.
• Analyzed the particle size distribution of generated aerosols.

Main Results:

• Both containment pressure and source size were significant factors in pressurized powder releases.
• The weight percent of source powder released airborne ranged from approximately 2% to 24%.
• Mass median aerodynamic equivalent diameters (AED) of airborne particles ranged from 5 to 19 microns, with a significant fraction being respirable (≤10 microns AED).

Conclusions:

• Established relationships can estimate airborne releases from pressurized powder events in static air.
• Pressurized powder releases generate significant amounts of respirable aerosols.
• Findings contribute to improved safety assessments and environmental impact evaluations for facilities.