This study highlights the potential of using ultraviolet (UV) radiation for initiating polymerization of n-butyl acrylate (BA) in a narrow channel reactor made of borosilicate. A continuous flow system using a 90 cm long glass reactor with a circular cross section (1.5 mm internal diameter) was used in conjunction with a UV flood lamp having peak intensity at 365 nm. A series of experiments were performed in order to study the influence of UV intensity, initiator concentration, and space time on conversion and molecular weight distribution. A mathematical model incorporating the reactor geometry has been developed for predicting the conversions, and the results were compared with the experimental findings. Experimental results from this work have been benchmarked against continuous thermal polymerization studies.

The influence of temperature and reactor size on photopolymerization kinetics of n-butyl acrylate (n-BA) using narrow channel reactors has been investigated. Experimental results have shown that increase in temperature and decrease in size of the reactor increases the monomer conversion. The effect of temperature was studied by immersing the reactor in a water bath maintained at different temperatures. A narrow channel glass reactor, 900 mm long, with diameters 1.5 mm, 1.0 mm, and 0.5 mm respectively were used to study the effect of light penetration depth on the rate of polymerization and molecular weights of the polymer produced. The degree of branching in the polymer produced was also estimated and compared with published data.