Chemical kinetics on thermal decompositions of cumene hydroperoxide in cumene studied by calorimetry: An overview

• Chemical kinetics on thermal decompositions of CHP are conducted and summarized.
• Kinetics agrees well between data from DSC and adiabatic calorimetry.
• Ea is determined to be about 120 kJ mol−1 by various calorimetry.
• LogA (A in s−1) is determined to be about 11.8 by various calorimetry.

Study on chemical kinetics related to the thermal decomposition of cumene hydoperoxide (CHP) in cumene is summarized in this work. It is of great importance to gather and compare the differences between these kinetic parameters for further substantial applications in the chemical industry and process safety. CHP has been verified to possess an autocatalytic behavior by using microcalorimetry (such as TAM and C-80) operated at isothermal mode in the temperature range from 70 °C to 120 °C. However, it exhibits a reaction of n-th order detected by non-isothermal DSC scanning and adiabatic calorimeter. By the isothermal aging tests, activation energy and frequency factor in logA(s−1) were averaged to be (117.3 ± 5.9) kJ mol−1and (11.4 ± 0.3), respectively. Kinetic parameters acquired from data of interlaboratories by using heat-flow calorimetry, the averaged activation energy and frequency factor in logA(s−1) were (119.3 ± 11.3) kJ mol−1and (12.0 ± 0.2), respectively. On the analogy of results from adiabatic calorimetry, the activation energy and frequency factor in logA(s−1) were respectively averaged to be (122.4 ± 9.2) kJ mol−1and (11.8 ± 0.8). Five sets of kinetic models in relation to autocatalytic reactions are collected and discussed as well.