A new approach to the joined estimation of the heat generated by a semicontiunuous emulsion polymerization Qr and the overall heat exchange parameter UA

Abstract

-This work is concerned with the coupled estimation of the heat generated by the reaction (Qr) and the overall heat transfer parameter (UA) during the terpolymerization of styrene, butyl acrylate and methyl methacrylate from temperature measurements and the reactor heat balance. By making specific assumptions about the dynamics of the evolution of UA and Q R , we propose a cascade of observers to successively estimate these two parameters without the need for additional measurements of on-line samples. One further aspect of our approach is that only the energy balance around the reactor was employed. It means that the flow rate of the cooling jacket fluid was not required.

A Critical Overview of Sensors for Monitoring Polymerizations

“…The use of state estimation approaches in calorimetry has triggered a large amount of research 1, 71–73, 94–101. Fevotte et al1, 72, 73 studied the use of an inferential estimation strategy and calorimetry to monitor and control polymer properties using a few off‐line measurements (gravimetry) in batch solution and emulsion polymerization.…”

“…This research group later studied the use of ‘cascade’ calorimetry (i.e. a cascade of nonlinear observers used for the estimations of UA and Q r ) to monitor on‐line emulsion polymerizations as well as coupling conductivity and calorimetry to estimate monomer conversion 94, 99, 100. More recently, BenAmor et al71 proposed a ‘cascade’ of two state observers that did not need frequent off‐line measurements, compared to previous studies, to monitor emulsion polymerization.…”

A Practical Approach to Reaction Calorimetry in Presence of Supercritical Vinylidene Fluoride

“…The approach developed by BenAmor et al, later used by Freire et al, based on the use of a high‐gain nonlinear cascade state estimator, is a particularly attractive method since simultaneous estimation of UA and reaction heat ( Qr ) can be performed throughout the entire course of the reaction. This means that not only can the estimate of UA be used to calculated the rate of heat generation due to the polymerization, but unexpected changes in its value can also signal problems, for example of coagulation/fouling, during the reaction.…”

In‐Line Monitoring of Emulsion Polymerization Reactions Combining Heat Flow and Heat Balance Calorimetry

“…Different approaches (temperature oscillation calorimetry,16–18 use of nonlinear observers,11, 19–21 extended Kalman filter,2, 4, 21 and cascaded observers1, 22–24) have been proposed to take the variation of the overall heat transfer coefficient between the reaction medium and the jacket during batch and semi‐batch polymerization reactions into account when applying calorimetric techniques.…”