THE THERMAL STABILITY OF ALKYL HYPOCHLORITES

Environmental and economic constraints on the chemical industry are increasing. Process intensification means that waste streams are often either recycled or alternative uses found for them. Due to its oxidative properties industrial strength bleach, itself often arising as an effluent from chlorine scrubber systems, is commonly used in effluent treatment processes to remove malodorous materials such as sulphur compounds. In terms of process safety this introduces potential hazards due to the incomplete consideration of possible undesirable reactions. Of particular interest are the reactions that occur on mixing sodium hypochlorite (bleach) with alcoholic reaction masses (either organic or aqueous) as this can lead to the generation of thermally unstable, highly explosive alkyl hypochlorites, (methyl hypochlorite in particular being classified as a high explosive having a similar explosive potential to TNT). This paper provides details of an investigation into the thermal stability of the lower homologues of this series using a variety of experimental techniques to determine the relationship between thermal stability and time during decomposition.