Investigating the inherent safety designs of typical exothermic reaction processes

Abstract In this study, “attenuation” and “substitution” strategies were applied to improve the inherent safety designs of exothermic reaction processes. The two strategies were implemented in the exothermic process of the esterification of methanol with acetic anhydride. Process simulation technology was used to compare the two strategies, and the process with moderate increases in temperature–pressure curves was identified. Large quantities of thermally inert and high-boiling-point reactants can be added to a reaction system to dilute the system. Thus, “attenuation” can reduce the values of process parameters such as temperature and pressure. The flammability, explosiveness, toxicity, and thermal inertness of the reaction system were examined for investigating the inherent safety characteristics of the solvent. Selecting a high-safety solvent considerably improves the inherent safety of processes. Transforming the strongly exothermic batch reaction process into a semibatch production process or a continuous production process reduces the severity of thermal runaway and improves process controllability. Thus, “substitution” of a process that has low inherent safety with a process that has high safety was realized.