Reactive Hazards in Scaling Up: Case Study and Exercise


Safety is the highest priority of all the SELECT criteria, a reaction should never be scaled-up unless it’s safe to do so; the reaction hazards are understood and they can be controlled.  Information on the investigation into chemical accidents can be found on the U.S. Chemical Safety Board website. A reactive chemical explosion that happened at T2 Laboratories Inc. is explored here as a case study to provide an insight into the role kinetics and thermodynamics play when scaling up a chemical process.