Can solvent choices enhance both process safety and efficiency?

Recent work has demonstrated that the decomposition characteristics of indi vidual chemicals are often substantially different from those of the same c hemical when combined with a solvent. Further, different solvents alter the decomposition in significantly different ways, shifting the Differential S canning Calorimeter (DSC) onset and peak temperatures and maximum rates to lower as well as higher values. Often the magnitude of these effects cannot be explained as the result of simple dilution. This prior work with energe tic materials in solvents emphasizes the importance to process safety of sy stematically testing reaction mixtures, in addition to testing individual c hemicals. The primary focus of such testing is to ensure the hazards of the process a re well understood so that the process can be modified, or additional neces sary preventative and protective systems can be implemented to minimize pro cess upsets. However, it is demonstrated here that this knowledge can also be leveraged to modify processes to substantially increase process efficien cy while maintaining or enhancing safety. For example, the batch size of an existing process had been very restricted because of the potential severit y of a thermal runaway. Research on chemistry/solvent-specific decomposition data was utilized to s elect candidate replacement solvents for process optimization. A cooperativ e effort by safety engineers and development chemists ensued, resulting in a final process that entirely eliminated the batch size restrictions while simultaneously reducing reaction time and improving product quality.