Verified Document

Advanced Interactions Of Hazardous Materials Case Study

¶ … Interactions of Hazardous Materials Chemistry of the process

MCMT, methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl, was manufactured in a three-step process by T2 Laboratories, Inc. The first step of the chemical reaction necessitated the use of heating to activate or initiate the reaction. All three of the steps that followed were heat producing (exothermic) and in turn required some form of cooling. The first step (known as metalation), involves molten metallic sodium being reacted together with methylcyclopentadiene (MCPD) using diglyme (diethylene glycol dimethyl ether) as a catalyst in order to produce two MCPD molecules; these then reacted with sodium. The T2 firm released the hydrogen gas by-product produced by this reaction into the atmosphere.

The second step, referred to as substitution, involved the addition of dry manganese chloride powder to the reactor by the T2 firm employees. The manganese chloride then reacts with sodium MCPD within the reactor, resulting in the formation of sodium chloride as a by-product and manganese dimethylcyclopentadiene.

The third and final step, referred to as carbonylation, involves the injection of Carbon monoxide gas (CO) at the rear end of the reactor by the T2 chemists. The gas is bubbled, under pressure, through manganese dimethylcyclopentadiene. This final step also involves each of the two methylcyclopentadiene molecules on the manganese complex being replaced by 3 carbon monoxide molecules, thus forming MCMT.

After the carbonylation phase, the process operator at T2 then distilled the mixture to eliminate diglyme and MCMT....

The remaining sodium chloride and methlycyclopentadiene were eliminated as solid wastes. Diglyme was however recovered, and later reused in the three step process (United States (U.S.) Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, 2009).
What the company and other organizations should have done to prevent the incident from occurring.

The T2 chemists failed to recognize the reaction runaway hazard linked to the MCMT that they were producing. Assuming that they had been aware of the reaction hazard, they could have incorporated additional safety mechanisms or measures. The cooling system utilized by the T2 firm was vulnerable to point failures, because of the absence of design redundancy. Thus a backup cooling mechanism could have stopped the disaster from occurring. The MCMT process relief system was not capable of relieving a runaway reaction pressure (U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, 2009).

The risks of an overheating reaction mixture were overlooked or underestimated by the T2 laboratory chemists. Adequate backup mechanisms were not put in place to offer additional quenching or cooling of the reaction mixture, and/or to relieve the pressure if overheating occurred. The most crucial aspect was the ability to foresee, expect, or at the very least, test for the likelihood of any unwanted exothermic reaction(s) occurring in the accessible temperature range of the experimental conditions utilized. It is sensible to make sure that a safety allowance, or margin of 100 oC or more, in the range of the set reaction temperature and the thermal runaway starting temperature should…

Sources used in this document:
References

Levin, D. (2014). Managing Hazards for Scale Up of Chemical Manufacturing Processes. ACS Symposium Series (pp. 3-71). California: American Chemical Society.

U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. (2009). investigation report T2 laboratories, inc. runaway reaction. Jacksonville: U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.

Wikipedia. (2015, july 3). Thermal runaway. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_runaway
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Hazardous Chemicals in the Modern Developed World,
Words: 758 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Hazardous Chemicals In the modern developed world, chemicals play an important role in our lives. They are part of our food, the way we commute, how we live, and how we clean. There are a number of household chemicals, though, that are hazardous or toxic. These chemicals, if used improperly, can affect our health, and are particularly dangerous to those who already have compromised immune systems, the very old or very

TESOL: Materials and Course Design a Situation
Words: 6759 Length: 24 Document Type: Essay

TESOL: Materials and Course Design A situation analysis, giving all details available before the course begins: New comers of the TESOL school scheme will be assessed for their English language proficiency by the teachers assigned by TESOL (Teaching of English to speakers of other languages). Programming system will be run under this teacher - member of TESOL (Dorr, 2006). This TOSEL teacher is assigned to assist and teach student in establishing sound understanding

Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems
Words: 2213 Length: 8 Document Type: Case Study

Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems Page | WIPRO IT Business Solutions Green Initiatives by Wipro Green IT is defined as the study and practice of designing, manufacturing, using, and disposing of computers, servers and related components like monitors, printers, networking and communications devises and storage drives such that it has no impact on the environment. (Murugesan, San, 2008). The objective of green IT solutions is to: a) Reduce the application of hazardous

Security - Agip Kazakhstan North
Words: 14948 Length: 35 Document Type: Term Paper

They need to know what their responsibilities are not only as individuals but also as team members and corporate employees. David cites an excerpt from a corporate security document that illustrates his point: "A security policy serves many functions. It is a central document that describes in detail acceptable network activity and penalties for misuse. A security policy also provides a forum for identifying and clarifying security goals and

Environmental Justice & Executive Order
Words: 9648 Length: 35 Document Type: Research Proposal

For example, unequal protection may result from land-use decisions that determine the location of residential amenities and disamenities. Unincorporated, poor, and communities of color often suffer a "triple" vulnerability of noxious facility siting." (Bullard, 1998) Finally, 'Social Equity' is that which "assesses the role of sociological factors (race, ethnicity, class, culture, life styles, political power, etc.) on environmental decision making. Poor people and people of color often work in the

Impact of Information Systems on Environment
Words: 3150 Length: 11 Document Type: Term Paper

Information SystemsTable of ContentsAbstract 1What is an Information System (IS)? 2Why Learn about IS? 26 Major Types of IS: Who Uses Them and How 3Transaction Processing Systems (TPS) 3Management Information Systems (MIS) 5Decision Support Systems (DSS) 6Executive Information Systems (EIS) 7Expert Systems (ES) 8Office Automation Systems (OAS) 8Information System Applications 9Operational-Level Systems 9Management-Level Systems 10Strategic-Level Systems 11Negative Effects on the Environment 11Conclusion 12References 13AbstractThis paper examines Information Systems (IS) within

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now