Reaction Runaway as a Domino Effect of Pool Fire Engulfing an Ethoxylation Reactor

Abstract

In industrial safety, engulfing pool fires can cause damages and collapse of process vessels with catastrophic consequences. This work investigates the ethoxylation of 1-dodecanol as a case-study with a multiscale approach able to analyse scenarios of runaway triggered by a pool fire engulfing the reactor. The aim is to understand whether and when the cooling power of the external heat exchanger can prevent dangerous temperature build-up in the chemical reactor.