In chemical processes, runaway reactions, i.e. exothermic reactions getting out of control, represent a potential hazard source. These processes may occur not only during chemical processing but also during storage and transportation. Quite often runaway reactions play an important role in the chain of a developing incident therefore, the aim of this paper is to investigate their characteristic features in order to develop early detection and process control systems for anticipating uncontrolled runaway excursions in process plants. Such thermal runaways may be caused by an exothermic decomposition or by runaway of a desired exothermic reaction. In the case of runaway chemical reactions a thermal explosion is preceded by a self-heating process In a polymerization system the self-heating process is strongly influenced by self-acceleration behaviour due to the gel effect. The prime cause of these events is overheating which can lead to hazardous situations. The very high exothermicity of the process connected with a strong acceleration in rate versus conversioni makes the temperature control of the reactor very critical. A research programme on runaway reactions must lead to the identification of chemical, physical chemical and technological characteristics of the system under consideration in order to estimate the system safety and determine the criteria concerning the design and the control of the reactors and their protection systems. Modelling of the process and experimental tests are two efficient tools to investigate an area in which knowledge is still lacking. In this paper the suspension polymerisation of Methylmethacrylate has been studied.

Modelling of radical polymerization reactor : Runaway phenomena in Batch Reactor.

MASCHIO, GIUSEPPE;
1989

Abstract

In chemical processes, runaway reactions, i.e. exothermic reactions getting out of control, represent a potential hazard source. These processes may occur not only during chemical processing but also during storage and transportation. Quite often runaway reactions play an important role in the chain of a developing incident therefore, the aim of this paper is to investigate their characteristic features in order to develop early detection and process control systems for anticipating uncontrolled runaway excursions in process plants. Such thermal runaways may be caused by an exothermic decomposition or by runaway of a desired exothermic reaction. In the case of runaway chemical reactions a thermal explosion is preceded by a self-heating process In a polymerization system the self-heating process is strongly influenced by self-acceleration behaviour due to the gel effect. The prime cause of these events is overheating which can lead to hazardous situations. The very high exothermicity of the process connected with a strong acceleration in rate versus conversioni makes the temperature control of the reactor very critical. A research programme on runaway reactions must lead to the identification of chemical, physical chemical and technological characteristics of the system under consideration in order to estimate the system safety and determine the criteria concerning the design and the control of the reactors and their protection systems. Modelling of the process and experimental tests are two efficient tools to investigate an area in which knowledge is still lacking. In this paper the suspension polymerisation of Methylmethacrylate has been studied.
1989
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11577/2522356
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