Citation

Lu KT, Luo KM, Lin SH, Su SH, Hu KH. Process. Saf. Environ. Prot. 2004; 82(1): 37-47.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, Institution of Chemical Engineers and European Federation of Chemical Engineering, Publisher Hemisphere Publishing)

DOI

10.1205/095758204322777651

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The reaction mechanisms of phenol-formaldehyde polymerization are complicated in both acid- and base-catalyzed reaction systems. Furthermore, there is a considerable release of heat during their polymerization. As a consequence, numerous runaway situations have occurred in the past due to these industrial processes. In order to understand and characterize the runaway conditions in acid-catalyzed polymeric reaction systems, we used either oxalic acid or hydrochloric as the acid-catalyst in the phenol-formaldehyde polymerization and estimated its reaction kinetic parameters to evaluate the thermal hazard conditions. The critical temperatures and stable criteria of the runaway reaction in this exothermic polymerization were evaluated.