Unstable chemicals typically generate heat at an accelerating rate as the storage and processing temperature increases. They can also release flammable and toxic gases that can create a greater risk of fires, explosions, and poisonings as they react or decompose.
Very few of us can remember those stone age days of chemical engineering before there were fax and Xerox machines, PC’s, cell phones, email, the internet and even Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Yet it was back in those very days of 1973 when two intrepid Chem E’s attempted to create a relatively sophisticated dynamic simulation for an extremely complex chemical plant essentially from scratch using Fortran IV. The plant was Diamond Shamrock’s new steam fired quadruple effect caustic evaporation plant (with a fifth flash effect) called Battleground in LaPorte, Texas.
