Chemical and Process Inherent Safety Analysis of Large-Scale Suspension Poly(Vinyl Chloride) Production

Abstract

In this work, a safety assessment was carried out for the suspension polymerization method, known for the lack of studies about its sustainable performance and long history of chemical accidents. Therefore, a safety analysis was conducted using the inherent safety methodology to assess and determine the inherent risks of the poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) suspension production process using computer-aided process engineering (CAPE). The indicators were calculated using data from safety databases and the specialized literature, considering downstream stages like vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) recovery, PVC purification and PVC drying. The obtained indicators revealed that the process has a negative performance regarding inherent safety, with a total inherent safety index of 30. The chemical inherent safety index had a value of 19, with the main chemical risk of the process being presented by the vinyl chloride monomer (with a value of 11), along with the risk of the exothermic reactions. The process safety index had a value of 15, highlighting the inventory as the primary concern of the process (with a value of 5), followed by the presence of unsafe equipment such as furnaces, burners, and dryers. The safety structure index had a score of 3, categorizing the process as probably risky, with the reaction and purification stages being more susceptible to accidents. Lastly, it is recommended to reduce the size of the process inventory and to substitute out unsafe process units.