Consequence analysis of accidental release of supercritical carbon dioxide from high pressure pipelines

Global warming is a major challenge that we are facing today that involves the emission of harmful greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. Pressurized pipelines are considered to be the most efficient and reliable way to transport CO2 due to the high density and low viscosity of CO2. Any accidental discharge from such high pressure pipelines may result in significant damage to the ambient atmosphere and a powerful threat to human health. The unusual phase transition behavior of CO2 post leak can pose challenging risks for modeling the safe transportation of CO2, which is one of the most critical process design considerations in a carbon capture and storage (CCS) area. The current consequence model described in this work predicts the transient jet release rates and the concentration variations of pure CO2 over a given period of time and distance in Fluent 16.2. This has been validated against experimental work carried out by BP’s DF1 project at the Spadeadam site. The work has been extended to study the effect of terrain on the final downwind concentration of CO2. This consequence model could successfully predict the minimum safe distances to populated areas and can be used as a risk assessment tool for planning emergency response in case of pipeline leakage during CO2 transport.