Safety enhancement by transposition of the nitration of toluene from semi-batch reactor to continuous intensified heat exchanger reactor

The behavior of a continuous intensified heat exchanger (HEX) reactor in case of process failure is analyzed and compared to the behavior of a semi-continuous reactor. The nitration of toluene is considered as test reaction to identify the main failure scenarios that can lead to thermal runaway in both processes using the HAZOP method. No flow rate of process fluid and utility fluid in the continuous process. No stirring during feeding of the reactor followed by normal stirring for the semi-continuous reactor. These scenarios are simulated for both processes and the temperature profiles are observed. This study shows that the temperature is better controlled in the continuous process because of the intrinsic characteristics of the HEX reactor. In fact, this device has a low reactive volume relative to the mass of the reactor, allowing a good dissipation of the heat produced by the reaction, even in case of failure. This characteristic of the intensified reactor is confirmed by an experimental work. (C) 2014 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.