An analysis of α-epichlorohydrin-water runaways

A curiosity began after plotting adiabatic reaction calorimeter (ARC) data from a homework problem placed in a textbook entitled Chemical Process Safety by Daniel A. Crowl and Joseph F. Louvar, 2011. The data were for a 50/50 mixture (by mass) of α − epichlorohydrin and water mixture. Two exotherms...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Process safety and environmental protection 2023-04, Vol.172, p.496-500
Main Authors: Melhem, Georges, Kumpinsky, Enio, Tran, Joshua, Willey, Ronald J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Exothermic reactions
Reactivity
Runaway reactions
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Summary:A curiosity began after plotting adiabatic reaction calorimeter (ARC) data from a homework problem placed in a textbook entitled Chemical Process Safety by Daniel A. Crowl and Joseph F. Louvar, 2011. The data were for a 50/50 mixture (by mass) of α − epichlorohydrin and water mixture. Two exotherms appeared. The first exotherm involved hydration and polymerization of α-epichlorohydrin. A second exotherm appears as well related to the decomposition of reactants and products. Modeling exotherm 1 as a direct hydration of α-epichlorohydrin to glycerin and HCl underpredicted the observed exotherm. Thus, what are the mystery reactions involved that released more energy than predicted by simply modeling hydration to glycerin? This paper reports the answers found to this mystery. A combination of 13 intermediate reactions is proposed.
ISSN:0957-5820
1744-3598
DOI:10.1016/j.psep.2023.02.052