Process and safety study of tert-butyl hydroperoxide

Process safety for synthesis of tert -butyl hydrogen peroxide (TBHP) by tert -butyl alcohol (TBA) to react with H 2 O 2 was studied in this paper. On-line Raman spectroscopy and gas chromatography jointed analysis method was researched to monitor and analyze the changes of each components during the process to study reaction mechanism. The reaction kinetics was reproduced by apparent thermodynamics study and simulation for whole process, and the kinetics model of TBHP synthesis was obtained and with the first reported. The process safety parameter of the maximum temperature of the synthesis reaction(MTSR) and yield were predicted by response surface methodology (RSM) method and go through experimental verification further. It was found that the sulfuric acid and the concentration of TBA had great influences to reaction selectivity and yield. According to our research results, we supposed that the mechanism of TBHP synthesis would be followed by SN 1 +SN 2 . Focus on process safety, process risk assessment was done and pipe reaction to optimize TBHP synthesis was developed to change the batch process to pipe continuously. The yield of TBHP was 91.1%, conversion of TBA was 93.1%, and the selectivity of TBHP was 97.8%. The process safety parameters of heat accumulation and MTSR decreased 40.5% and 37.7% respectively comparison of the pipe continuous reaction and batch process. This study will provide guidance for intrinsic safety improvement of peroxidation reactions.