Home > All Products > Process Safety > Phi-TEC I | Bench-top, high phi-factor, adiabatic calorimeter

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Phi-TEC I | Bench-top, high phi-factor, adiabatic calorimeter

The Phi-TEC I is an adiabatic calorimeter that enables the characterization of thermal runaway hazards during process development and scale-up. The Phi-TEC I replicates industrial (large volume) conditions on a lab-scale, enabling thermal runaway hazards to be characterized safely and efficiently.
Via direct sample temperature measurement and by rapidly responding to any thermal changes, the Phi-TEC I accurately tracks exothermic events and maintains adiabatic conditions. This adiabatic screening enables thermal events to be defined with the accurate characterization of the onset temperature (T_d) and facilitates the calculation of other key parameters, such as the rate of pressure change, the adiabatic temperature rise (∆T_ad,d), and the time to maximum rate (TMR_d).

High Phi-Factor Test Cell Catalog

Process Safety and Scale Up Specifications

Process Safety and Scale Up (Mandarin)

Process Safety and Scale Up Brochure

Applications

Rapid reactions

If there is a need to characterize especially rapid decompositions, the Phi-TEC I offers a high data-rate acquisition option, which provides higher resolution data on the rate of pressure

and temperature changes. When scaling up a process, accurate knowledge of an exothermic event is vital to ensure the magnitude of the thermal runaway risk is fully understood.

Adiabatic calorimetry

Large scale reactors lose very little of the heat generated in a reaction to the surroundings. This poses a potential hazard when operating at large scale, as that heat will be retained within the reactor. At best this will require plant cooling and at worst may trigger a thermal runaway.

The Phi-TEC I mimics the processes at large scale, while operating at laboratory volumes.

Characterizing the thermal runaway (4)

Secondary thermal runaway risk Providing a direct measurement of the sample temperature, coupled with a rapid response to thermal changes, the Phi-TEC I accurately tracks exothermic events and maintains adiabatic conditions.

Adiabatic screening of a process enables accurate characterization of the onset temperature (Td) and facilitates calculation of the time to maximum rate (TMRd), the adiabatic temperature rise (ΔTad,d) and the rate of pressure change. These key parameters can help describe the magnitude of the thermal runaway hazard.

Features and Options

Test Cells Type and Volume

Standard ARC-type & high Phi-factor test cells are available in Stainless Steel, Hastelloy, and glass.
Volume range 0.5 ml to 10 ml.

Temperature Control

Ambient to 500°C .
Optional: Low-temperature addition (starting at -20 °C or -40 °C dependant on oil circulator) for testing of highly unstable chemicals available.

High Pressure and Vacuum Systems

Pressure range 1 to 150 bar.
Reagent Addition
Optional: On specific test cell designs.

Stirring available

Indirect agitation with magnetic stirrer bar as standard; fixed stirring rate of 300 rpm

Intelligent Software Control and Analysis

Control software enables regular data logging, multi-step recipes, parameter control, and feedback loops.
Customizable standard plans allow for easy running of the system with automated heating, detection of gas generation, and safety steps.
Optional: High data rate acquisition available for characterizing extremely fast reactions (up to 10 000 Hz).

Safety Features

Automatic, user-configurable, shutdown procedures if a safety condition is exceeded to ensure user safety
Automatic hardware and software fail-safes are installed on every system
Optional: Safety release valve

Publications

The following are a list of some technical publications which highlight the use of the equipment.

Effects of metal ions on thermal hazard of tert-butyl peroxy-3, 5, 5-trimethylhexanoate

Xiang-Hui Shi, Yong Pana, Xin Zhang, Yan-Jun Wang, Li Xia, Jun-Cheng Jiang and Chi-Min Shu

01-Feb-2023

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0950423023000037(Subscription or purchase maybe required for full access)

Continuous Safety Improvements to Avoid Runaway Reactions: The Case of a Chloro-Thiadiazole Intermediate Synthesis toward Timolol

Alessandro Agosti, Silvia Panzeri, Federico Gassa, Massimo Magnani, Giulia Forni, Marco Quaroni, Lazzaro Feliciani and Giorgio Bertolini

19-May-2020

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.oprd.0c00048(Subscription or purchase maybe required for full access)

An Alternative Scalable Process for the Synthesis of 4,6-Dichloropyrimidine-5-carbonitrile

Bin Zhang, Huixin Yan, Chongfeng Ge, Bo Liu and Zhenping Wu

01-Nov-2018

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.oprd.8b00154(Subscription or purchase maybe required for full access)

Experimental sensitivity analysis of the runaway severity of Dicumyl peroxide decomposition using adiabatic calorimetry

Olga J. Reyes Valdesa, Valeria Casson Moreno, Simon P. Waldram, Luc N. Véchot, M. Sam Mannan

10-Oct-2015

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tca.2015.07.016(Subscription or purchase maybe required for full access)

Safety Aspects of a Cyanamide Reaction: Inherent Safe Design through Kinetic Modelling and Adiabatic Testing

Wim Dermaut*, Christine Fannes, and Johan Van Thienen

22-Sep-2007

https://doi.org/10.1021/op700166b(Subscription or purchase maybe required for full access)

Development of a Scalable and Safe Procedure for the Production of (3R)-3-(2,3-Dihydro-1-benzofuran-5-yl)-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-9H-pyrrolo[3,4-b]- quinolin-9-one, an Intermediate in the Synthesis of PDE-V Inhibitors RWJ387273 (R301249) & RWJ444772 (R290629)

Bert Willemsens, Ivan Vervest, Dominic Ormerod, Wim Aelterman, Christine Fannes, Narda Mertens, István E. Markó, and Sebastien Lemaire

12-Jul-2006

https://doi.org/10.1021/op060099f(Subscription or purchase maybe required for full access)

Critical Assessment of Pharmaceutical Processes A Rationale for Changing the Synthetic Route

Mike Butters, David Catterick, Andrew Craig, Alan Curzons, David Dale, Adam Gillmore, Stuart P. Green, Ivan Marziano, Jon-Paul Sherlock, and Wesley White

08-Mar-2006

https://doi.org/10.1021/cr050982w(Subscription or purchase maybe required for full access)