A study of effective mitigation system for accidental hydrogen fluoride releases

PresentationHydrogen fluoride (HF) is a strong, pervious gas that is a stimulus on the body, respiratory system, and skin. HF is widely used in electronics manufacturing as a polisher and disinfectant. Interest in HF increased after the HF release accident in Gumi, S. Korea (2012), emphasizing the special attention and management needs with respect to this gas. In this study, ANSYS FLUENT, a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) program, is used to identify the effect of a physical barrier as a mitigation system against HF and Chlorine leaked from industrial facilities. In a typical industrial facility, there is a barrier that distinguishes the inside and outside of a workplace, but it is not sufficient to prevent hazardous substances from being released outside. However, we assumed various physical barrier heights (3 m, 6 m and 9 m) for mitigating toxic release and used simulations to analyze them to determine how effectively they decreased concentrations offsite. Goldfish experimental data from 1986 were compared to verify the results for HF and Jack Rabbit I test data in 2010 for Chlorine. The results show that HF and Chlorine concentrations can be further decreased with higher barrier heights and their mitigation effectiveness factors were derived. Thus, we can reduce the possibility of offsite exposure to toxic gas release using the mitigation system and make the better and more effective emergency plan with proper mitigation systems