Reactor Modeling for Polymerization Processes

Abstract

The engineering principles that apply to polymerization reactions are extensions of well-established principles for the study of reactions that involve small molecules. Macromolecules are very attractive, because, through changes in their molecular architecture, one can influence end-use properties that small molecules do not have, such as melt strength, crystallinity, and clarity, to name a few. This additional degree of freedom comes at a cost, however, because it introduces a level of complexity that requires careful consideration during reactor design, analysis, and/or operation. There are many practical problems in polymer reaction engineering that can be handled using traditional tools. Very little additional expertise is required from reaction engineers. There are other problems that demand this expertise and, because they do, it becomes more difficult to avoid empirical components and determine when an observation should be predicted by the model or handled as a measurement artifact. This review attempts to define the borders that separate these two types of problems and discusses the challenges and opportunities industry often faces. There are still practical problems to solve in the area of commodity polymers, and there are many opportunities to apply the same engineering principles to specialty polymers.

Integrated Dynamic Optimization and Scheduling of Polymerization Processes with First Principle Models

“…Anionic ring‐opening polymerization processes are carried out in conventional stirred‐tank reactors coupled with heat exchangers. These polymerization processes are often catalyzed by alkali metal hydroxides . Molecules with active hydrogen atoms are used as the initiation site (starter) for polymerization.…”

Polymerization Reactor Modeling in Industry

“…The model was compared with industrial experimental data for several copolymerization grades. Further discussion of some of the industrial aspects of polyolefin production was provided in the review paper by Villa 23…”

Polyurethanes from Renewable Resources

“…Uniformity of component raw materials is an important variable. Disruption of polyol hydroxy equivalent weight (HEW ¼ MW/f) distribution outside the normal Poisson distribution achieved by conventional catalysis [18,19] causes an accumulation of phase organizational defects, which increases as the breadth of polyol HEW increases. This disruption of phase organization (phase mixing) has a significant effect on the mechanical properties of the final flexible polymer products, the principle one being the elasticity or resiliency of the resulting flexible polymer.…”