Patent ID: 7575932

Claim:
A method for monitoring exothermic reactions in a reactor having a specific limit value of pressure, in which one or more starting materials react exothermically to give at least one product, and at least one gas is present in the reactor during operation as intended or during a runaway, comprising the following process steps: A) measurement and storage of an initial temperature and an initial pressure in the reactor, B) calculation of the amount of products and starting materials present in the reactor from an energy balance, and storage of the calculated amounts, C) calculation of a maximum pressure rise, that occurs in a step of a simulated stepwise reaction of the amount of starting materials present, in relation to a calculated starting pressure, which is greater than the measured initial pressure and D) calculation of a runaway pressure from the sum of the maximum pressure rise that occurs, calculated in step C), and the measured initial pressure stored in step A), and comparing the calculated runaway pressure with the reactor-specific limit value.