Reactive Hazards: Process Scale-up Hazards and Characterisation

Process safety is an important contributor to the reliability of chemical manufacturing. It is an integral but sometimes underappreciated, part of the design, operation and maintenance of process plants. 

A key component of process safety management and information includes identifying and understanding reactive hazards and safe operating limits. Chemical reactivity hazards arise from both the intrinsic property of a material (e.g. thermal decomposition), uncontrolled chemical interactions with other chemical species (e.g. incompatibles) and/or undesirable process conditions (e.g. temperature).This course is designed to introduce the essential steps in managing such hazards which include identifying, testing and assessing chemical reactivity risks with the aid of calorimetry. The information collected will then be used in the design of appropriate vent sizing which is part of Process Safety. This course is designed specifically for chemists, chemical engineers, process safety engineers and safety and health professionals who are involved in developing and operating chemical processes or conducting safety/risk assessments. This course will also be useful for specialists involved in accident investigations where reactive hazards are involved.

This course will enhance your understanding of how reactive hazards impact scale-up and process safety. You will also discover how such hazards can be characterised and their corresponding risks assessed. In addition, you will be introduced to the use of calorimetry to assess reactivity hazards and its application in vent sizing. This knowledge will aid chemical engineers and safety practitioners to predict, prevent or review chemical runaway scenarios. This course will also aid in developing bases of safety or safety cases of chemical processes and a better understanding of safe operating limits.