ISOTHERMAL KINETIC EVALUATION OF METHYL ETHYL
KETONE PEROXIDE MIXED WITH ACETONE BY TAM III TESTS
Mei-Li You1,2, Jo-Ming Tseng1, Ming-Yang Liu2, Tsung-Chih Wu3, Chi-Min Shu1,4*
1
Doctoral Program, Graduate School of Engineering Science and Technology,
National Yunlin University of Science and Technology (NYUST), 123,
University Rd., Sec. 3, Douliou, Yunlin, Taiwan 64002, ROC
2
Department of General Education Center, Chienkuo Technology University, 1,
Chieh Shou N. Rd., Changhua, Taiwan 50094, ROC
3
Department of Safety, Health and Environmental Engineering, Hungkuang University, 34,
Chung-Chie Rd., Shalu, Taichung County, Taiwan 43302, ROC
4
Process Safety and Disaster Prevention Laboratory, Department of Safety, Health, and
Environmental Engineering, NYUST, 123, University Rd., Sec. 3, Douliou, Yunlin, Taiwan
64002, ROC
*
E-mail address: shucm@yuntech.edu.tw
Abstract
Methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (MEKPO), the topic material, has been extensively applied as
an initiator and cross–linker during polymerization, but it has also induced many severe
accidents on a global scale. The innovative objective of an isothermal kinetic evaluation was
to determine the basic characteristics of reactive chemicals to prevent serious runaway
accidents. Therefore, we endeavored to demonstrate the reaction model and kinetic
parameters, such as activation energy (Ea), and frequency factor (A), by the thermal activity
monitor III (TAM III) under three isothermal situations of 70, 80, and 90°C, in terms of 31
mass% MEKPO and with 99 mass% acetone. The results showed that MEKPO could liberate
a great quantity of heat during an exothermic reaction. In addition, acetone could alleviate the
degree of exothermic runaway while being added with MEKPO.
Keywords: methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (MEKPO), isothermal kinetic evaluation, runaway
accidents, thermal activity monitor III (TAM III), acetone