Sulfuric acid spills in marine accidents
Concentrated sulfuric acid and oleum are among the most potentially hazardous chemicals routinely transported in bulk quantities on US and international waterways. Conceivably, during a marine mishap, tons of sulfuric acid could be abruptly released into the water, and the consequences of such a spill could be detrimental to man and the environment. Several acid spill scenarios are briefly described, and the results from laboratory experiments designed to simulate two different types of acid spill accidents are reported. It is shown that the convective mixing of concentrated sulfuric acid with water can adequately be described by a mathematical model which takes into account the variation of the buoyancy force arising from changes in acid concentration and released heat of dilution. A value of 0.21 is determined to be the entrainment parameter for the mixing of sulfuric acid with water. For oleum spills in which acid aerosol formation is a potential safety hazard, a conservative estimate of less than one-tenth of a percent is obtained for the amount of airborne acid under most accident conditions. The fraction of airborne acid, however, decreases very rapidly with increasing release depth below water surfaces. The acid aerosols exhibit a well-defined log-normal particle-size distribution with peak diameter varying from 0.1 to 0.6 ..mu..m (at 70% R.H.) depending upon release depth. This is well within the respirable particle size range.
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (USA); Department of Transportation, Washington, DC (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76CH00016
- OSTI ID:
- 5221212
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-28123; CONF-801025-1
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 6. international symposium on transport of dangerous goods by sea and inland waterways, Tokyo, Japan, 13 Oct 1980
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
CHEMICAL SPILLS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
SULFURIC ACID
ACCIDENTS
AEROSOLS
DEPTH
HEALTH HAZARDS
MIXING
PARTICLE SIZE
SAFETY
SEAS
SULFUR TRIOXIDE
SURFACES
TRANSPORT
WATER
CHALCOGENIDES
COLLOIDS
DIMENSIONS
DISPERSIONS
HAZARDS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INORGANIC ACIDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
SIZE
SOLS
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SULFUR OXIDES
SURFACE WATERS
520200* - Environment
Aquatic- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (-1989)