Browsing by Author "Bi, Shiyang"

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    Simulation of potential formation of atmospheric pollution from aboveground storage tank leakage after severe storms
    (Elsevier, 2021) Bi, Shiyang; Kiaghadi, Amin; Schulze, Benjamin C.; Bernier, Carl; Bedient, Philip B.; Padgett, Jamie E.; Rifai, Hanadi; Griffin, Robert J.
    Damage by severe storms of infrastructure containing chemicals can cause widespread pollution of the atmosphere and nearby bodies of water. Because atmospheric monitoring equipment is inoperable in the periods after these storms, transport and fate modeling approaches are necessary to estimate the regional atmospheric concentrations of evaporated spill material and secondary pollutants from such events. Hypothetical spills from a single storage tank in Houston were used to evaluate the impact of different meteorological scenarios (Hurricanes Harvey in 2017 and Ike in 2008), leaked materials (oils and organic solvents), background chemical conditions, and cloud conditions on simulated air pollution. Due to differences in evaporation rate, downwind oil plumes are predicted to cover a broader region than organic solvent plumes, which remain concentrated along the path of the prevailing wind. Depending on assumptions regarding evaporation, mixing ratios of spilled material of up to 90 parts per million are predicted. Substantial formation of ozone (up to an enhancement of 130 parts per billion) and secondary organic aerosol (up to an enhancement of 30 μg m−3) could occur in the short-term aftermath of these storms within the downwind solvent plumes, with the magnitude dependent on the solar radiation, type of material, and background pollutant level. This highlights the potential vulnerability of residents and workers in downwind regions to evaporated spill materials and their degradation products.
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    Simulation of the Atmospheric Fate and Transport of Chemicals from Aboveground Storage Tank Leakage Post Severe Storms
    (2018-04-19) Bi, Shiyang; Griffin, Robert
    Hurricanes can damage the industrial infrastructure containing hazardous chemicals, which causes widespread environmental pollution in both water and air systems. To estimate the regional atmospheric concentration of evaporated spill material, as well as of secondary pollutants ozone (O3) and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) from petrochemicals released from aboveground storage tanks (AST) leakage post hurricanes, a Lagrangian particle dispersion model associated with a detailed non-linear zero-dimensional Eulerian chemistry model was developed. The developed model couples the EFDC-SS water quality model for simulating the transport of spill material along the storm surge, the FLEXPART model for simulating the physical transport of evaporated spill material, The Master chemical mechanism for simulating the gas-phase chemistry, Volatility basis set approach for simulating the SOA formation, and the resistance model for simulating dry deposition processes. Five runs were conducted to evaluated various hurricane scenarios (Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Ike), combined with different types of spill materials (oils and organic solvents) released under different cloud conditions. Results show that the downwind plumes of oils with slower evaporation rates are predicted to cover a broader region while the organic solvent plumes are more concentrated and move along the wind trajectory. It is also determined that the downwind plume concentration is predicted to be higher under lower planetary boundary (PBL) height and stable PBL conditions during the night. Additionally, results show that O3 and SOA formation is significant within the downwind plume and largely depends on the solar radiation intensity and the types of spill materials. This research helps to highlight the vulnerability of downwind regions to evaporated spill materials and lends insight to secondary pollutant formation within the downwind plume.