Boundary Diagrams Safety Criterion for Liquid Phase Homogeneous Semibatch Reactors

In this work a summary of safety assessments based on a concept of boundary diagrams safety criterion (BDSC) is given and adapted for liquid phase homogeneous reactions carried out in batch and semibatch reactors. First, on the basis of theoretical considerations, the operating diagrams have been elaborated, which make possible a selection of safe or inherently safe operating conditions for any liquid homogeneous reaction, even with limited information on the reaction kinetics. To use the proposed method, a detailed reaction mechanism is not required; only fundamental kinetic information is necessary. Usually, the reaction kinetic constants at two chosen temperatures should be determined. Next the reaction enthalpy and a few well-known parameters used for characterization of the reacting system are utilized. The proposed approach is crucial for practical applications of this method, because in industrial practicee.g., in the fine chemicals industryusually there is no time and there are no funds for detailed investigations of the reaction kinetics. The proposed BDSC method has been verified with our own experimental data. Despite the fact that this method has been developed for a single second order reaction, it can be conservatively applied also for reactions of an order different from two as well as for parallel reactions.