Identifying Autocatalytic Decomposition Reactions Using Model-Free Kinetics for Process Safety

摘要

All organic compounds undergo decomposition by some reaction mechanism. In most cases, as the decomposition reaction proceeds, the heat release rate decreases as the decomposing compound disappears during the transformation. This is because the heat release is proportional to the concentration of the material. For a certain subclass of decomposition mechanisms, an acceleration of the reaction rate with increasing conversion is observed. This type of reaction is dangerous from the perspective of process safety, as an exothermic autocatalytic reaction gives rise to sudden heat evolution, which makes the potential thermal hazards more difficult to detect. In this work, we will assess the decomposition of several common chemical reagents and pharmaceutical intermediates for autocatalytic decomposition potential by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). We will seek to model the heat release behavior using Model Free Kinetics (MFK) with modern thermokinetics software.