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Safety of chemical processes capable of deviating into runaway reactions

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre has published the proceedings of an EU seminar, held in Frankfurt, in November 1994, on how to ensure the safety of chemical processes which may be capable of deviating into runaway reactions. The seminar was organized by the Ma...

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre has published the proceedings of an EU seminar, held in Frankfurt, in November 1994, on how to ensure the safety of chemical processes which may be capable of deviating into runaway reactions. The seminar was organized by the Major Accident Hazards Bureau of the European Commission in cooperation with DG XI and the national authorities responsible for the implementation of the "Seveso" Directive (82/501/EEC) for the control of major accident hazards. Participants at the seminar included representatives of these bodies as well as delegates from industry and academic bodies. The publication contains all the papers presented at the seminar, including the rapporteurs' reports which served as an introduction to each session and also drew general conclusions at the end of the seminar. A summary of the participants' reactions and conclusions is also presented to provide an overview of the seminar proceedings. The papers presented at the seminar covered a wide range of aspects of process safety including: - Case studies of particular incidents; - A discussion of engineering management objectives to reduce the risk of runaway reactions in the batch processing industry; - The design of pressure relief facilities to control thermal runaway reaction hazards; - The conduct of theoretical and laboratory studies; - The use of larger-scale experimental and theoretical facilities; - Presentation and discussion of recently issued Guidelines from the German Technical Committee for Plant Safety.