Thermal stability of 2-ethylhexyl nitrate with acid

2-Ethylhexyl nitrate (EHN) is an important material, which is produced by concentrated HNO 3 –H 2 SO 4 nitration process. But EHN is not a stable material, especially mixed with acids. To analyze the stability of EHN with concentrated acid under serious condition, four samples (pure EHN, concentrated sulfuric acid with EHN, concentrated nitric acid with EHN, and mixed acid with EHN) and three acids (sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and mixed acid) were measured by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and accelerating rate calorimeter (ARC) in this paper. The results indicated that concentrated sulfuric acid, concentrated nitric acid, and mixed acid all could decrease the onset decomposition temperature of EHN, especially concentrated sulfuric acid. DSC results also showed that the heat of EHN decomposition with nitric acid is larger than other samples. Based on ARC data, the kinetic parameters and T D24 (temperature at which TMR ad is 24 h) were calculated. The activation energy and T D24 of the EHN with acids, especially with concentrate sulfuric acid, were much lower than the pure EHN. It can be concluded that acids could decrease the stability of EHN and that is an important reason for frequent accidents.