Journal of Loss Prevention in The Process Industries, Vol.23, No.3, 437-445, 2010
Dynamic model based safety analysis of a three-phase catalytic slurry intensified continuous reactor
Safety analysis like the HAZOP (HAZard OPerability) study can be much more efficient if a dynamic model of the system under consideration is available to evaluate the consequences of hazard deviations and the efficiency of the proposed safety barriers In this paper, a dynamic model of a three-phase catalytic slurry intensified continuous chemical reactor is used within the context of its HAZOP (HAZard OPerability) study This reactor, the RAPTOR (R), is an intensified continuous mini-reactor designed by the French company AETGROUP SAS that can replace batch or fed-batch processes in the case of highly exothermic reactions involving hazardous substances The highly hazardous hydrogenation of o-cresol under high pressure and temperature is taken as an example of application Deviations as a temperature increase of the cooling medium or no cooling medium how can produce an overheating of the reactor Thus, three possible safety barriers are evaluated by simulation shut off the gaseous reactant feed, shut off the liquid reactant feed or stop the agitation The more efficient actions are the stopping of the agitation and/or of the gas reactant feed. The simulation results can efficiently help the reactor design and optimisation Safety analysis can also be one of the criteria to compare batch and intensified continuous processes (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved
Keywords:Dynamic modelling;HAZOP;Safety analysis;Three-phase catalytic reactor;Intensified continuous reactor