Multiscale Modeling for Process Safety Applications

3.8. Thermal Runaway Reactions

Thermal runaway reactions and self-accelerated decompositions carry with them the potential for inherent risk of loss of control of the process with possible devastating effects on life and the environment. Self-decomposition, for example, is a very likely scenario with organic peroxides, characterized by a single O–O bond with low dissociation energy, in the order of 35–50 kcal/mol (Bach et al., 1996). Thermal runaway reactions are caused from uncontrolled increase in reaction rate resulting from rising temperature in an exothermic reaction. As long as the system has the ability to remove heat at a faster rate than the heat being generated from an exothermic reaction, the reaction is under control. Otherwise, ...