Investigation into maximum temperature of synthesis reaction for single kinetically controlled liquid–liquid semibatch reactions with arbitrary reaction order

Maximum temperature of synthesis reaction (MTSR) is an essential concept to assess the thermal runaway risk and design safe operating conditions for semibatch reactors (SBRs). According to the definition, the values of MTSR will change with the reaction temperature ( T ). So far, the behavior of MTSR for liquid–liquid semibatch reactions with arbitrary reaction order has not been thoroughly researched. In this work, it is theoretically and experimentally verified that MTSR versus T profiles are prone to present an ‘S’ shape for strongly exothermic kinetically controlled liquid–liquid reactions. That means that the dependence of MTSR on T is complex. A theoretical criterion to determine whether MTSR will increase with T increasing is developed in this work. This criterion states that if the criterion is negative, MTSR will increase as T increases. To validate this criterion, the nitration of 4-chloro benzotrifluorid by mixed acid was conducted. The theoretical criterion can contribute to design safe operating conditions for SBRs.