Reaction Effluent Analysis Using Adiabatic Calorimetric Experiments

The safe design and operation of chemical production facilities requires knowledge of the potential hazards of process streams. For managing the hazards of effluent streams involved in potential chemical release scenarios, it is important to have relevant chemical compositional data. These data are critical for the design of effluent treatment or containment systems, in dispersion modeling of flammable and toxic effects, and in the selection of High Integrity Protection and/or Alternate Overpressure Protection systems. However, there are no commercially available instruments which can readily identify and quantify gas-phase products that may be produced under process upset conditions and discharged at high temperatures and pressures. A new instrumental measurement capability has been developed wherein an Accelerating Rate Calorimeter (ARC) is coupled to a Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) to identify reaction effluent(s) at a given set of temperature/pressure conditions. This presentation summarizes the literature surveyed to determine the most suitable analytical detection method(s) for gas-phase reaction effluent screening for high temperature and pressure calorimetric experiments. The multi-disciplinary approach for the development of the ARCxGC/MS capability is also shared. Technical methodology, sampling system design and implementation, and ARCxGC/MS results for model and industrially relevant systems are also presented and discussed.