Predicting the Three Dimensional Distribution of Gas Pollutants for Industrial-type Geometries in the South Pars Gas Complex Using Computational Fluid Dynamics

Dispersion of air pollutants emitted from an elevated point in industrial environments is a crucial problem. In the current study, the dispersion of gaseous pollutants from stacks and flares of gas refineries (phases 1–5) in the South Pars Gas Complex, located in Iran, is investigated both experimentally and numerically. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is used to determine the dispersion patterns of gaseous pollutants, including CO, SO₂, and NO₂ in the ambient air. The commercial CFD code, FLUENT, is applied to solve the governing equations by means of the finite volume method. The predicted concentrations of the pollutants in the ambient air are compared with the measured values in specific meteorological conditions. The obtained results indicate an acceptable agreement between the model and the experimental data. Moreover, the results are compatible with the standard <i>k</i>–ε turbulence model for simulating the effect of turbulence on the dispersion of pollutants in the petroleum industry