Applying experiment and numerical simulation to evaluate the thermal hazards of Bis(1-(tert‑butylperoxy)-1-methylethyl)-benzene in the presence of metal ions or sulfuric acid

• The impacts of metal ions and acidic media on the thermal stability of BIPB are studied. • The kinetic model-free and model-fitting approach are coupled to build the reliable multi-step reaction kinetic model. • Thermokinetic-based numerical simulation was utilized to calculate the thermal runaway and explosion hazard indicators. • Two sem-quantitative risk analysis methods are employed to evaluate thermal hazards of compounds and processes in BIPB synthesis. Bis(1-(tert‑butylperoxy)-1-methylethyl)-benzene (BIPB) is susceptible to thermal runaway or explosion when exposed to metal ions or acid during production. In this article, thermal decomposition of BIPB and its thermal sensitivity to metal ions and acid were firstly systematically studied by DSC and ARC. Experiments demonstrate that BIPB decomposes around 105–115 °C with Δ H ¯ of 1483.78J·g −1 . FeCl 3 and H 2 SO 4 have a more pronounced impact on the thermal decomposition characteristics of BIPB compared with other impurities. Furthermore, the effect became more pronounced with increasing H 2 SO 4 . The model-free and model-fitting methods were combined to determine BIPB's decomposition as a two-step consecutive n -order reaction ( A → r 1 B → r 2 C ), then to evaluate thermal hazard indicators. Ultimately, two sem-quantitative risk assessment methods were separately used to evaluate thermal risk of compounds and processes. It's shown that the MF of BIPB mixtures doped with FeCl 3 is highest, 2, and the Borda index of the purification process in BIPB synthesis is 44 and risk rank is 2, which is an unacceptable risk.