Experimental and numerical simulation to identify the thermal hazards and hazardous scenarios of N-Nitrodihydroxyethyl dinitrate

Abstract

As a major high-energy plasticizer in the production of propellant, the destructive nature and thermal hazards of DINA are enormous. To evaluate the potential thermal hazards for its decomposition, the non-isothermal DSC and ARC experiments were performed to determine the decomposition kinetic model and parameters. It can be seen from the DSC results that DINA underwent a melting process before thermal decomposition, the endothermic peak and exothermic peak are identified at about 49−52℃ and 153−162℃, respectively. Combined with the results of DSC and ARC tests, the reliable kinetic model of DINA consists of four consecutive autocatalytic reaction has been created and verified. Subsequently, kinetic-based numerical simulations were executed to evaluate the thermal explosion hazards of DINA under the different scenarios. Process safety parameters under adiabatic conditions including time to maximum rate as well as induction period were consequently retrieved. Furthermore, inherent safety recommendations were proposed to forestall the process accidents in storage and the applications of DINA.