Modelling of propane emissions from a tank containing a liquefied phase

Abstract

During gas-phase release from the tank containing liquefied gas, the phenomenon of boiling, heat transfer from moist air to the tank, heat exchange between shell, liquid, and vapor, and mass loss can be observed. The aim of this paper is modelling the thermal response of the tank containing liquefied gas during jet emission of the vapor phase. The model takes into account heat exchange between air, tank’s shell, liquid phase, vapor phase and mass balance. The proposed model predicts: pressure inside the tank, tank’s shell temperature in part with liquid and vapor, the temperature of the liquid phase and vapor phase, and mass loss from the tank. The results of the theoretical model were compared with experimental results. An experiment based on the typical home container for LPG, containing 10 kg of propane (27 dm3 volume) was conducted. In general, the proposed model predicts well the changes in measured parameters temperatures and pressure - during vapor phase emission from a tank containing liquefied gas.