Far-Field Behavior of Supercritical CO₂ Being Dispersed Due to Leakage from Pipelines

Transporting massive quantities of carbon dioxide through a pipeline in its supercritical state is extremely convenient. Because of the unique properties of supercritical carbon dioxide, however, leakage occurring in such conditions can be extremely intricate, resulting in the dispersion area following leakage being influenced by numerous factors. In this study, this problem is addressed in the frame of the so-called Unified Dispersion Model (UDM), and various influential parameters are considered, namely, leakage pressure, leakage temperature, leakage aperture, leakage angle, atmospheric stability, wind speed, and surface roughness. The results show that the supercritical carbon dioxide dispersion is primarily influenced by high air temperatures, low wind speeds, reduced surface roughness, and release temperatures slightly below the critical temperature. Additionally, leak apertures also contribute to the dispersion. The dispersion is maximized under atmospheric stable D conditions, and when the leakage angle is 0°, the farthest downwind distance is 10 times greater than that at a leakage angle of 90° under the same conditions.