Process & Hazard Screening

Robinson Brothers has invested in a fully-equipped Process Hazard Screening Laboratory. All stages of a manufacturing process are rigorously screened for any reaction hazards and process safety prior to a manufacturing campaign in the Kilo-Laboratory and/or Pilot Plant.

We perform an array of screening tools, including:
Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) for solid or liquid samples. A DSC measures the difference in heat flow rate between a sample and an inert reference as a function of time and temperature. This gives information on thermal stability and acts as an early screening system against potentially hazardous processes. The DSC scan is interpreted by the CRHS and allows the design of further experiments to ensure a safe scale-up of chemical operations.

Advanced Reactive System Screening Tool (ARSST), which is an adiabatic calorimeter that can quickly and safely identify potential chemical hazards in the process. ARSST data yields critical experimental knowledge of the rates of temperature and pressure rises during a runaway reaction. This provides reliable energy and gas release data, which can be applied directly to full-scale process conditions. Foreseeable deviations and worst-case scenarios can be explored with the ARSST, with the information generated used to design safeguards.

Adiabatic Calorimetry measures the heat of the reaction which in turn determines a potential adiabatic temperature increase and maximum temperature of the synthesis reaction. Batch and semi-batch methodology can be contrasted with the accumulation of raw material(s) calculated.

Our Process Hazard Screening Laboratory is situated within our R&D department. Robinson Brothers R&D laboratories are staffed by highly skilled teams of Research Chemists with a wide range of synthetic experience; being experts in process development, scale-up and optimisation. Click here to find out more about our R&D services.