ALOHA SIMULATION ON THE LEAKAGE ACCIDENT OF CO2 IN GAS WELDING PROCESS

Abstract

Chemical accident is a major problem in environmental pollution. It could occur from chemical leakage which leads to people illness, injury, or death. The automotive industry in Thailand has dramatically grown in recent years and gas welding plays a major role in it. The process uses gas and oxygen to weld metals together. Comparing to other gases, CO₂ is the least expensive and can be used without any inert gas. However, the exposure of highly concentrated CO₂ can be fatal since it is the cause of asphyxia and suffocation. In this research, the Area Location of Hazardous Atmosphere (ALOHA) model has been chosen to simulate the release of CO₂ in storage tank with an objection to predict the most serious incident and the area of threat zones. Assuming the case with a complete rupture of the storage tank, all CO₂ will be released. The thread zones, depend on wind speed and temperature, are between 55 and 126 meters. The results indicate an immediately dangerous to life or health (IDLH) value and can be used as a guidance to help deciding and responding in emergency incident in the future.