CFD simulation to study batch reactor thermal runaway behavior based on esterification reaction

Thermal runaway is a hazardous problem frequently occurring in the chemical productions. An effective way to avoid accidents caused by thermal runaway is preliminary hazard analysis which can help determine the comparatively safe operating condition in the design phase. In this paper, a series of batch reactor thermal runaway scenarios based on esterification of isopropyl propionate has been studied and according to mixing law the optimal inhibitor injection location has been confirmed. The reactor model is established by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technology and verified by RC1e test. The effect of cooling temperature, cooling velocity and stirring speed are investigated in detail. Based on the failure status analyses, the appropriate location of temperature probe was then determined by the divergence (DIV) criterion. Finally, the inhibitory mixing performances were evaluated by a global mixing criterion. The results indicated the mixing time and inhibitory region were greatly influenced by the injection location.