TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2011//
TI  - Oscillatory thermal instability and the Bhopal disaster
JO  - Process safety and environmental protection
A1  - Ball, R.
SP  - 317
EP  - 322
VL  - 89
IS  - 5
N2  - A stability analysis is presented of the hydrolysis of methyl isocyanate (MIC) using a homogeneous flow reactor paradigm. The results simulate initiation of the thermal runaway that occurred inside the storage tank of MIC at the Bhopal Union Carbide plant in December 1984. The stability properties of the model indicate that the thermal runaway may have been initiated at a large amplitude, hard thermal oscillation at a subcritical Hopf bifurcation. This type of thermal misbehavior cannot be predicted using conventional thermal diagrams and classical ignition theory, and may be typical of liquid thermoreactive systems.<p /> 
LA  - 
SN  - 0957-5820
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2011.06.004
ID  - ref1
ER  -