Lagrangian plume rise and dispersion modelling of the large-scale lithium-ion battery fire in Morris, USA, 2021

This article puts a perspective to the health risks of smoke from lithium-ion battery (LIB) fires by retrospect simulations of the large-scale event in a warehouse in Morris, IL, USA where about 60 metric tonnes of LIB set on fire on of June 29, 2021. Possible scenarios are sketched where ground concentration maps of PM 2.5 reveal large areas of tens of square kilometres exceeding the action levels set up by the authorities for the event. Besides high concentration in the close vicinity, the plume touchdown is found to be located 5–10 km away from the source. In contrast, irritant gases including HF did not exceed the action levels. The reconstruction of the event was conducted using details from interviews with the owner and first-responders on site, which subsequently was used as input data to a Lagrangian atmospheric transport model. Plume rise due to buoyant flux in a Lagrangian dispersion model was accomplished by adding a vertical speed component derived from discretization of the well-known Briggs formulation. Emission factors were collected from the published scientific literature and implemented in combination with warehouse inventory and visual observations. The importance of this work becomes apparent in view of the rapid increase of LIB’s in, e.g., transportation and energy storage with accompanied fire accidents. These findings support precautions in infrastructure handling LIBs and particularly in large amounts.