Feasibility study for a passive trip system to prevent a runaway reaction in a batch reactor.
Reactors for carrying out exothermic reactions are amongst others equipped with trip systems. Normally these are active systems requiring a number of components such as sensors, pumps or valves to function for a successful trip. They may, for example, use the injection of a reaction inhibitor or the dumping of the reactor contents into a knock-out tank. The availability of such systems, i.e. their probability of functioning on demand, largely depends on their degree of redundancy. However, the possibility of common cause failures places a limit on increasing their availability by raising their degree of redundancy. Nevertheless, a trip system may reach a high availability if instead of stepping up its redundancy a passive system is used. The design of such a passive trip system for batch reactors is described and its feasibility is demonstrated by experimental investigations of three different types of reactions.
Jablonski
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Abteilung Anlagentechnik und Anlagensicherheit, Otto-von-Guericke-University, Magdeburg, Germany. dariusz.jablonski@currenta.de
Hauptmanns
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D055884:Chemical Hazard Release / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004867:Equipment Design; D004868:Equipment Failure; D005240:Feasibility Studies