Thermal hazard identification of crosslinking agent BIBP using DSC test and thermokinetics simulation

Bis(tert-butylperoxy isopropyl) benzene peroxide (BIBP) is a popular bridging agent for polymerisation. However, the thermal runaway temperature and thermal hazard parameters of BIBP in storage have not been identified, and no study has investigated the effects of storage temperature and storage container capacity on the thermal runaway of BIBP during long-distance transportation. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) experiments and thermokinetic simulations were employed to identify the thermal parameters of BIBP and examine the effect of storage temperature and capacity on the thermal runaway of BIBP. On the basis of DSC experiments, the simulated results revealed the apparent activation energy of BIBP to be approximately 150 kJ mol−1. The decomposition of BIBP under nonisothermal conditions was ascribed to two parallel nth-order reactions. Autocatalysis reaction simulations indicated that carriers should maintain an ambient storage temperature below 50 °C during the transport of 10 kg of BIBP lasting over 2 days. Storage capacity had little effect on BIBP characteristics during transportation. As expected, when the ambient storage temperature increased, the time to conversion limit of BIBP and time to maximum rate under adiabatic conditions of BIBP both decreased. This indicated that the disposal time should be reduced to prevent thermal damage to BIBP. The thermal hazard parameters of BIBP should be appropriately controlled to prevent and mitigate the thermal hazards associated with BIBP.