Hazard of Runaway of Nitration Processes in Nitrocompounds Production

Hazard of runaway of nitration processes in nitrocompounds production was investigated. Temperature rise in DNT nitration mixes under near adiabatic conditions was measured, and derivative dT/dζ was computed. Heat evolution rate caused by nitration (primary reaction) and oxidation (secondary reaction) were examined by means of elaborated mathematical model. Limiting values of T and dT/dζ for safe process were determined. The second part of investigation concerns detonability of solutions of nitrocompound in sulfuric acid. The detonation failure diameter df and detonation velocity D of solutions of trinitrotoluene, dinitrotoluene, and trinitrobenzene in sulfuric acid and oleum have been measured in the wide range of concentrations at T = 90C. It was shown that the detonability of the nitrocompounds depends signifcantly on the sulfuric acid content. The minimum value of df for the mixture TNT/oleum is about 2 mm, i.e., 30 times less, than that for melted TNT, and practically equals to df of nitroglycerine.