Explosion and thermal hazard assessment of peroxide‐containing THF solvent using thermal screening unit

Abstract The present work reports the explosion and thermal hazard of tetrahydrofuran (THF) solvent using a thermal screening unit (TSU) analysis. Three types of THF samples are studied, comprising THF, which was aged for 1 year with multiple exposures to ambient air and ambient light, freshly procured un‐stabilized THF, and fresh stabilized THF samples. TSU study indicates the onset temperature of the aged THF sample is 42.14°C while heating in the presence of air, 49.42°C while heating in the presence of nitrogen, and 55.02°C while heating under vacuum. DSC data of aged THF show three onset temperatures at 63.32, 103.48, and 260.42°C while it was heated under nitrogen flow. No such onset temperature is found in freshly procured un‐stabilized and stabilized THF samples. For the aged THF sample, the maximum rate of temperature rise (d T /d t ) max is found to be 95.02, 88.91, and 176.93°C/min in air, nitrogen, and vacuum respectively. The maximum rate of pressure rise (d P /d t ) max is found to be 25.52, 16.72, and 53.38 bar/min in air, nitrogen, and vacuum respectively. Other parameters such as maximum pressure and residual gas pressure for all THF samples are also estimated.