Emergency Response Planning for Urea Manufacturing Industries by Predicting Atmospheric Dispersion of Ammonia

Abstract

Population growth is one of the major constraintsfor the economic growth of India. Increase in food demand due to population growth burdens the current food supply. To meet the food demand and supply, soil productivity is enhanced by using fertilizers. Currently, these fertilizers play a vital role in Indian agricultural sector. High nitrogen content and high solubility in water makes urea a convenient source of nitrogen. Therefore, it is widely used as a nitrogenous fertilizer. Urea is manufactured by ammonia and carbon dioxide. The high demand and supply of urea requires huge quantity of ammonia. As, ammonia has adverse effect on human health, its accidental release risks the nearby surroundings. Hence, prediction of ammonia gas dispersion in the surrounding atmosphere will aid in identification of possible affected area with prediction of extent of consequences on human beings and environment. In the present work, open source software, Areal Locations of Hazardous Atmospheres (ALOHA), is used for risk assessment of sudden release of stored ammonia gas in urea manufacturing plant. ALOHA identifies toxic threat zones at particular location depending upon the storage and meteorological conditions. Identification of affected zone as well as gas concentration at specific location will support in emergency response planning. Identification of the most probable affected zone will help in devising prompt warning system for person to evacuate, shelter and/or lockdown. Further implementation of water scrubbers or curtains or sprayers with quick responding communication system and medical facilities with antidotes will reduce the number of affected persons and severity of the incident.