(263e) Measurement Science and Calorimetry in Reactive Chemicals Evaluations of Laboratory-Scale Processes
AIChE Annual Meeting
2023
2023 AIChE Annual Meeting
Process Development Division
Process Development: Design, Risk Reduction, Implementation and Operations
Monday, November 6, 2023 - 2:10pm to 2:35pm
Over the past half century, Dow’s Reactive Chemicals Program has supported a strong safety culture and a scientifically rigorous, risk-based review process for chemical hazards in the company’s labs and plants. The foundation of Dow’s chemical and process hazard analyses is the data generated by the Reactive Chemicals Group, who leverage measurement science, expertise in chemistry and engineering, and an understanding of Dow’s processes to support safe operation at all scales. Research activities at the laboratory and pilot scales represent a unique challenge with respect to managing reactivity hazards and preventing incidents. While a smaller scale can reduce the risks and consequences of an incident, research activities often involve new chemicals with unknown hazards, frequent changes to scope in response to new discoveries, or reactions and materials that are not yet well-understood. In addition, time and resources are often limited, particularly when it is not clear whether the research will be successful. Despite these challenges, identifying, evaluating, and addressing reactivity hazards is essential to prevent injuries or equipment damage from uncontrolled or unexpected chemical reactions. To ensure that research and development of new chemistries and processes continue safely, the Reactive Chemicals Group at Dow applies an agile, flexible, safe, and rigorous approach to reactive chemicals hazard identification and evaluation for small-scale processes. In this talk, I will discuss the fundamentals of applying calorimetric data to assess reactivity hazards. While dynamic or isothermal calorimetry may be appropriate in some hazard evaluations, understanding many worst-case scenarios requires other techniques, particularly adiabatic or pseudo-adiabatic calorimetry. I will review the assumptions and technical limitations that must be considered in these experiments and illustrate the appropriate application and interpretation of example data in the evaluation of a prospective experiment. I will also discuss how a Reactive Chemicals Subject-Matter Expert might predict and evaluate the likely outcomes of plausible worst-case scenarios in several laboratory experiments, with a focus on the effect of scale.