Macromolecular Reaction Engineering

A tube reactor with recycle is designed and operated in three different modes: batch, continuous and loop tube reactors. Well-controlled multi-modal MWDs can be readily prepared from the loop reactor, through adjusting the residence time and recycle ratio. The experimental MWDs can be theoretically de-convoluted into a series of narrowly distributed subpopulations as illustrated in the scheme.

The implementation of model-based predictive control (MPC) of industrial semibatch emulsion copolymerization is demonstrated. The necessary steps involve the development of process model, its validation and connection with control software, and the realization at pilot-plant scale. Core of the MPC is the control model which must be fast and robust enough to predict the process trajectory reliably and quickly.

Minor changes in system and component parameters can affect the stability of liquid–liquid mixing in a suspension polymerization. A real-time measurement technology for the monitoring of the particle size distribution is established. The photo-optical method with automated particle identification based on image analysis is adapted and trained to detect phase inversion as a warning system.

Microreactor technology in combination with mass spectrometry monitoring allows for on-line “nonstop” analysis. The kinetics of n-butyl acrylate polymerizations via reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer polymerization are investigated for a wide range of microreactor temperatures and residence times.