1.

SIMULATION RESULTS

1.1. PRIMARY FRACTIONATOR – WINTER SEASON

The first simulation was relevant to the catastrophic damage of the primary fractionator of Plant A
causing an instantaneous release of all the benzene stored in the item. The primary fractionator has a
diameter of 8.3 meters, height of 19 meters, and a total volume of 1028 cubic meter and the fraction
of interest1 of 0.5, representing half of tank volume is occupied with overall mixture and thus,
concluding the volume of interest is 514 m3 (refer to Table 7). The gas is stored under a pressure of Formatted: Superscript
1.8 bar and the temperature of Benzene is 108 °C. In In plant item, the benzene in gaseous phase is
stored in combination with other gases representing 10% in volume of the overall mixture. Thus, the
total amount of benzene in gas phase present in the item is calculated as: Volume of interest (514) X
% of volume (0.1) which is 51.4 cubic meter.
Winter scenario is defined as having a wind speed equal to 2.5 m/s, relative humidity of 30 %, cloud
cover 41 %, temperature 12°C and inversion height of 700 meters. In all the simulations we
considered the winter season starts from January 1 to April 15 and from October 15 to December 31.
The concentration field of benzene in gaseous phase caused by catastrophic damage of the primary
fractionator during the winter season is given in the Figure 1Figure 1 below. Formatted: Font: 12 pt

Figure 1 Concentration field of benzene following a catastrophic accident of Primary Fractionator during the Winter
season.

Formatted: Font: 9 pt
1The fraction of interest is ‘percent of tank is filled with gas or liquid’. For example, primary fractionator has 0.5 fraction of interest.
This means, the plant item is 0.5 i.e. half is filled with benzene in gas phase and other half is empty. Formatted: Font: 9 pt