Assessment of Hazards for Green Oxidation of Secondary Alcohols with Hydrogen Peroxide

The oxidation of alcohols to the corresponding carbonyl compounds is important in the fine chemicals and pharmaceutical industries. Traditional methods are either energy intensive or harmful to the environment due to employing strong oxidizing agents, which are usually hazardous and toxic. Therefore, hydrogen peroxide solution as an ideal oxidant has drawn much attention. Many studies have been published on green oxidation of secondary alcohol using hydrogen peroxide. However, there has been little discussion on safety concerns for scale-up regarding these reaction systems, which has runaway potential. Thus, this paper seeks to describe a comprehensive study of thermal and kinetic behavior of selected green oxidation reaction system using calorimetry techniques, including RC1e for normal operating condition and PHI-TEC for upset condition study. Moreover, the influence of stirring rate on reaction heat generation is discussed, and hazard assessment classification according to Stoessel criticality diagram is presented. The findings can be further used for hazard assessment of similar green oxidation reaction systems for safer design purpose.