Fate and transport analysis of a Dowtherm–A chemical release event

Abstract A hypothetical chemical release of Dowtherm–A into the environment was simulated using a chemodynamics code. The chemical release was assumed to come from a concentrating solar power plant adjacent to Lake Tahoe. Dowtherm–A is viscous water‐insoluble nonvolatile oil found mostly in liquid form at standard temperature and pressure; however, trace amounts slowly diffuse into the three environmental phases: air, water, and soil. It is a commercial eutectic binary mixture of diphenyl oxide and biphenyl—both are toxic and flammable. Therminol VP–1 is another commercial heat transfer oil made by Eastman that is essentially the same oil as Dowtherm–A made by Dow: same constituents at equal proportions. Therefore, the results reported in this study apply to both fluids. Solar thermal power generation represents a clean source of energy that almost uses no fossil fuels and thus does not emit any greenhouse gases. However, the oil employed in those solar thermal power plants is dangerous and should be carefully handled to avoid leakage.