Dispersion of carbon dioxide released from buried high-pressure pipeline over complex terrain

To quantitatively assess the risks associated with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology, a better understanding of the dispersion characteristics of CO released from a high-pressure pipeline is necessary. The dispersion process is complicated as CO is denser than air, and the Joule-Thomson effect causes sharp drop of the temperature. In this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique was used to investigate the CO dispersion. The CFD model is validated by simulating a full-size blasting test. The influence of topography and low temperature at the release source on the dispersion of CO released from buried CO pipelines over complex terrain types was studied. This study provides a viable method for the assessment of the risks associated with CCS. 2 2 2 2 2