Facing the hazard of biphasic, unstable, highly exothermic process: The case of epoxidation of vegetable oils

Vegetable oils are epoxidized by peroxy-acid in the presence of mineral catalysts. Besides, the risk of thermal explosion due to the decomposition of reactants (hydrogen peroxides and peroxyacids) is very high. This contribution examines the hazards of epoxidation and explores different possibility to reduce the risks of thermal explosion pro-Actively, starting from the biphasic kinetic model developed based on lab-scale experimental tests published in previous works. Variable reactant feeding intensity for the peroxy-reactants, heat losses at wall have been set, in the light of the Quick, Fair conversion, Safe (QFS) criterion, by adopting the Cooling number methodology and by analyzing divergence criterion. Results allow best operating conditions and safety considerations either for lab-scale or for industrial scale when standard techniques cannot be adopted.