The effect of flow regime on the continuous emulsion polymerization of styrene in a tubular reactor

Abstract

Five isothermal emulsion polymerizations of styrene in a tubular reactor were studied experimentally using an emulsifier

Numerical simulation of a tubular polymerization reactor

“…Once the stability and convergence of the algorithm were established, several runs were made to match the average conversion from the model output with the reported experimental conversions of Rollin et al 3 In all simulations, the step sizes used were AZ = 0.01 and AT = 0.01. The values of the different parameters appearing in eqs.…”

“…The two most significant studies performed in this area have been by Ghosh and Forsythl and Rollin et al 3,4 Ghosh and Forsyth performed an experimental and theoretical study of the emulsion polymerization of styrene in a tubular reactor for Reynolds numbers up to 210 and very high soap concentrations. Under these conditions they were able to obtain operation of the reactor without plugging and conversions as high as 90%.…”

Tubular reactors for emulsion polymerization: I. Experimental investigation

“…We categorize the studies by reactor type: loop, seed, high conversion, and other spatially distributed reactors. Rollin et al (1977) studied the influence of the Reynolds number on the rate of polymerization of styrene in a closedloop reactor. Using a fixed recipe (styrene/water: 1/4 by volume; potassium persulfate, sodium lauryl sulfate, and a temperature of 6O"C), they varied the Reynolds number from 415 to 13,600 in a 7.7-mm-ID stainless-steel tube reactor, 18.9 m long and shaped in a loop with two straight sections.…”

“…Because turbulent flow produced smaller monomer drops which absorbed more surfactant, this leads to fewer micelles and hence fewer polymer particles. Lynch and Kiparissides (1981) simulated the turbulent flow regime experiments of Rollin et al (1977). Their monodisperse model included axial dispersion of initiator (which they found to contribute negligibly to the initiator concentration profile), micellar nucleation, and particle loss by coalescence.…”

Emulsion copolymerization in a tubular reactor

“…Rollin et al, 9 for the first time, used a helical reactor in open loop. In 1981, Lynch and Kiparissides 10 simulated the turbulent experiments of Rollin et al 7 Lee and Forsyth 11 studied the seeded polymerization of vinyl acetate in the reactor built by Vatanatham and Forsyth. 8 Bataille et al 12 studied the copolymerization of styrene and ␣-methyl styrene in an open-loop reactor.…”