Atmospheric Storage Tank Emission Estimates: Understanding the Calculation Basis and Effects of Uncertainty in Meteorological Inputs
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 145, Issue 12
Abstract
Emissions from organic liquids stored in atmospheric tanks were estimated using semiempirical equations developed by the USEPA and implemented in Microsoft Excel® in order to study the effect of averaging time and meteorological data on estimated emissions. Annual emissions based on average annual weather data were typically lower than the sum of emission estimates based on average monthly weather data. However, some weather conditions displayed the opposite relationship, so the comparison of average time effects must be location specific. For both fixed and floating roof tanks, uncertainty in temperature data had the largest impact on calculated emissions. Solar insolation had little or no impact on emissions, and only external floating roof tank emissions showed a small dependence on wind speed. Trends were the same for the five locations used in the study. Finally, it was shown that the dimensionless pressure function used to calculate emissions from floating roof tanks is nearly proportional to the vapor mole fraction for liquids with vapor pressures appropriate for storage in atmospheric tanks, enabling emission estimates based on vapor mole fraction.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request. Available items include two Excel files containing templates for annual and monthly emissions, respectively.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Jessica Ford of Philadelphia Energy Solutions for helpful discussions related to the project. The authors thank Villanova College of Engineering for student support provided for this independent study project.
References
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 145 • Issue 12 • December 2019
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 16, 2018
Accepted: May 28, 2019
Published online: Oct 15, 2019
Published in print: Dec 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Mar 15, 2020
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