Spill behaviour using REACTPOOL: Part II. Results for accidental releases of silicon tetrachloride (SiCl 4)

Abstract

Silicon tetrachloride is a toxic, corrosive water reactive substance that is used widely in the process industries. On spillage from containment it creates liquid pools that can either boil or evaporate. The main feature of the pool behaviour is the exothermic reaction with water. There are three sources of water available for reaction: free ground water, substrate water and atmospheric moisture. Hydrogen chloride gas and ortho-silicic acid solid (or silica gel) are produced by the hydrolysis reaction. The purpose of this paper is to describe the dangers involved in cases of accidental releases of silicon tetrachloride, to report its properties, referring to toxicity data, major accidents and mitigation tests. It also describes pool behaviour using REACTPOOL [1]. Model results indicate that the pool behaviour is governed mainly by the amount of water available for reaction. Surface roughness and wind speed also have a significant effect on the results. Results are compared with those for other water reactive chemicals in Part III of this series of papers [3]. The generated cloud will initially contain silicon tetrachloride and hydrogen chloride with numerous processes taking place. Although silicon tetrachloride has been involved in many major hazard incidents, there are no experimental data relevant to the modelling requirements.