Prediction and Prevention of Chemical Reaction Hazards — Learning by Simulation

Assignments based on dynamic simulation of a batch reactor and a semi-batch reactor in which exothermic reactions are conducted, are used to teach students the various aspects of process safety. The students can observe temperature runaway taking place because of incidents, such as overcharging, cooling water failure, pipe blockage and excessive initial heating. They can derive various strategies to prevent temperature runaway developing as the result of such incidents and suggest operational and structural changes of the process to make it more resilient to component failures and incidents.