(57an) Scale up of Reaction with Runaway Potential

Session Selection: 51st Annual Loss Prevention Symposium (LPS) (T1C)

T1C00 Fires, Explosions, and Reactive Chemicals - Oral Session

Scale up of reaction with runaway potential

Yue Sun, Yogesh Koirala, Wen Zhu and M. Sam Mannan

Mary Kay O’Conner Process Safety Center

Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering

 Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843-3122, USA

+1(979)985-0919, yuesun@tamu.edu

Abstract

 

Thermal runaway reactions may cause severe fire and explosions incidents. Of many incidents, the 2007 T2 explosion is one of them, which was caused by runaway chemicals reaction when the cooling system failed. Often when dealing with chemical reaction with thermal runaway potential in small-scale, the reactions can be controlled. However, when it comes to industry large-scale operations, controlling reactions gets difficult leading to critical safety issues during operations. The purpose of this project is to study, experimentally and theoretically, chemical reactions with thermal runaway potential and to conduct research on thermal and kinetic behavior of different chemical reactions at different scale. Hydrogen peroxide oxidation of secondary alcohols to ketones will be studied. These reactions are considered as green chemistry as it has water as its main byproduct and it is environmentally friendly. The mild operating condition makes it manageable in reaction calorimetry RC1e. The findings of this study will be then be used to provide a better understanding of scale-up of chemical reactions with runaway potential and to propose measures for reducing the risk of a thermal runaway.

Keywords

Thermal runaway reaction, scale-up, reactive chemicals, hydrogen peroxide and secondary alcohols