Emergency Venting on Fire Exposure Calculations

Reference: "Understanding Atmospheric Storage Tanks" by Siddhartha Mukherjee, Chemical Engineering, April 2006

The table below gives emergency venting rates for hexane

Wetted
surface area,
m2

Design pressure, Emergency venting rate, std m3/h

kPa gage

Area <18

All

Vem = 58791*(A*F/L)*(T/M)0.5

18 <area <93

All

Vem = 208888*(A0.566*F/L)*(T/M)0.5

93 <area <260

All

Vem = 587386*(A0.338*F/L)*(T/M)0.5

Area >260

>6.9

Vem = 40248*(A0.82*F/L)*(T/M)0.5

Area >260

<6.9

Vem = 3847884*(F/L)*(T/M)0.5

where
Vem =

emergency venting rate, Sm3/h (Sm3/h indicates volume flow at standard conditions of 101.325 kPa(a) and 15C)

A=

Wetted surface area of the tank, m2

API STD 2000, 6th Ed. provides the following guidelines for calculating the wetted surface area ( page 13, Table 5)
1. For spheres and spheroids, the wetted area is equal to 55% of the total surface area or the surface area to a
height of 9.14 m above grade, whichever is greater
2. For horizontal tanks, the wetted area is equal to 75 % of the total surface area or the surface area to a height
of 9.14 m above grade, whichever is greater.
3. For vertical tanks, the wetted area is equal to the total surface area of the vertical shell to a height of 9.14 m
above grade. For a vertical tank setting on the ground, the area of the ground plates is not included as wetted area.
For a vertical tank supported above grade, it is necessary to include a portion of the area of the bottom as
additional wetted surface. The portion of the bottom area exposed to a fire depends on the diameter and elevation
of the tank above grade. It is necessary to use engineering judgement in evaluating the portion of the area exposed to fire.
environmental factor, dimensionless
latent heat of vaporization of hexane liquid at relieving pressure and temperature, kJ/kg
temperature of relieving vapor hexane, K
molecular weight of the liquid hexane, kg/kmol

F=
L=
T=
M=

Environmental Factor
The environmental factor, F, is taken as 1.0 for bare metal tanks. For insulated tanks, F varies between 0.025 and 0.30,
depending upon the insulation thermal conductivity. Refer Table 9 of API STD 2000, 6th Ed. for environmental factor values
Corrected venting rate for other liquids

Vcorr = (3098*Vem) / ((Mother0.5)*Lother)

where
Vcorr =

emergency venting rate of liquid other than hexane, Sm3/h

Mother =

molecular weight of the other liquid, kg/kmol

Lother =

latent heat of vaporization of other liquid at relieving pressure and temperature, kJ/kg

Calculation
A
F
L
T
M
P
Vem

90
1
334.9
288.706
86.17
5.9
14576.4

wetted surface area

Environmental factor
Latent Heat of Vaporization for n-hexane

m2
dimensionless
kJ/kg
K
kg/kmol
kPa gage
Sm3/h

Vapor temperature assumed as 60F as per API STD 2000 6th Ed.

Molecular weight of n-hexane

Design pressure of tank

13816.5 Nm3/h

This value matches with the value as given in Table 7,

page 15, of API STD 2000, 6th Ed.

Notes
1. For wetted surface area less than 260 m2, the input in the cell for pressure has no significance, since the calculated
value Vem is independent of pressure.
2. Following conversions for English units to SI units are applicable:
1 psig = 6.9 kPa gage
1 ft2 = 0.093 m2
1 Btu/lb = 2.326 kJ/kg
Prepared by:

Ankur Srivastava
Chemical Engineer
e-mail: ankur_2061@hotmail.com

Disclaimer: The information and methods included within this spreadsheet are presented for calculating emergency venting rates due
to fire from Atmospheric Storage Tanks. It is intended to be used by technically skilled persons at their own discretion. I do not warrant
the suitability or accuracy of these methods.

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