High solids content emulsion terpolymerization of vinyl acetate,methyl methacrylate and butyl acrylate. II. Open loop composition control

A method for the calculation of the optimal monomer addition policies for polymer composition control in emulsion terpolymerization is developed. The method is applied to reactors with and without limited heat removal capacity. A mathematical model that incorporates the main features of the vinyl acetate/methyl methacrylate/butyl acrylate high solids content emulsion terpolymerization system allows the calculation of the composition of the initial charge of the reactor and the time-dependent monomer addition rates required. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Modeling molecular weight distribution in emulsion polymerization reactions with transfer to polymer

A mathematical model was developed for the computation of the dynamic evolution of molecular weight distributions (MWDs) during nonlinear emulsion polymerization reactions. To allow the direct computation of the whole MWD, an adaptive orthogonal collocation technique was applied. The model was validated with experimental methyl methacrylate/butylacrylate (BuA) semicontinuous and vinyl acrylate (VA)/Veova10 continuous emulsion polymerization results. Both systems considered introduce significant chain‐transfer reactions to polymer chains as a result of the presence of BuA and VA, respectively. The model developed was able to represent quite properly the kinetics and MWD of polymer samples during emulsion polymerizations. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 39: 3513–3528, 2001     

Evidence of Branching in Poly(butyl acrylate) Produced in Pulsed‐Laser Polymerization Experiments

Branched poly(butyl acrylate) was obtained from pulsed‐laser polymerizations carried out in bulk and in solution between −16 and 60 °C. The predominantly short branches are formed by backbiting. The Arrhenius temperature dependence of the backbiting rate is calculated, and the activation energy of this process was found to be remarkably higher than that of propagation. Branching thus increases with temperature leading to broader SEC traces and difficulties in the accurate determination of k_p.

Arrhenius plot of k_fp2 versus 1/T determined experimentally.     

Semicontinuous seeded emulsion copolymerization of vinyl acetate and methyl acrylate

The semicontinuous seeded emulsion copolymerization of vinyl acetate and methyl acrylate was investigated. The effect of type of process (starved process versus semi-starved process), type of feed (neat monomer addition versus monomer emulsion addition), amount of seed initially charged in the reactor, and feed rate on the time evolution of the overall conversion, copolymer composition, and polymer particle size was analyzed. It was found that, in the case of the starved process, both monomers, but mainly vinyl acetate, accumulated in the reactor. The preferential accumulation of vinyle acetate resulted in a drift of the copolymer composition. Both monomers accumulation and copolymer composition drift were reduced by increasing the amount of seed initially charged in the reactor and by decreasing the feed rate. For the semi-starved process, it was found that a vinyl aceatate rich copolymer was formed when a low methyl acrylate feed was used, whereas a methyl acrylate rich copolymer was obtained at high methyl acrylate feed rates. For both starved process and semi-starved process, the total number of polymer particles, after an initial increase, reached a plateau value which was the same in all of the experiments carried out. These results were analyzed by means of a mathematical model developed for this system.     

Semicontinuous emulsion copolymerization of methyl methacrylate and ethyl acrylate

The monomer addition policies required to produce homogeneous methyl methacrylateethyl acrylate copolymers of different compositions were determined by means of a semiempirical approach. This approach is useful for systems about which only a limited information is available. Applying this method only three reactions were needed to obtain homogeneous copolymers in a minimum process time. Comparisons were made between the results obtained using this monomer addition strategy and those from copolymerizations carried out under the classical starved conditions.     

Model Reduction in Emulsion Polymerization Using Hybrid First Principles/Artificial Neural Networks Models, 2

Summary: A “series” hybrid model based on material balances and artificial neural networks to predict the evolution of weight average molecular weight, , in semicontinuous emulsion polymerization with long chain branching kinetics is presented. The core of the model is composed by two artificial neural networks (ANNs) that calculate polymerization rate, R_p, and instantaneous weight‐average molecular weight, from reactor process variables. The subsequent integration of the material balances allowed to obtain the time evolution of conversion and , along the polymerization process. The accuracy of the proposed model under a wide range of conditions was assessed. The low computer‐time load makes the hybrid model suitable for optimization strategies.

Effect of the monomer feed rate on .     

Kinetics of the seeded semicontinuous emulsion copolymerization of methyl methacrylate and butyl acrylate

The effect of a chain‐transfer agent (CTA) on the kinetics and molecular weight distribution of the methyl methacrylate/butyl acrylate semicontinuous emulsion polymerization was investigated. The dodecanethiol had a slight effect on the reaction rate but significantly affected the secondary nucleation. The effect of the CTA concentration on the gel formation and the effect of the reaction conditions on the mass‐transfer limitations of the CTA are discussed. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 38: 367–375, 2000     

Seeded semibatch emulsion polymerization of butyl acrylate: Effect of the chain‐transfer agent on the kinetics and structural properties

The effect of dodecane‐1‐thiol on the kinetics, gel fraction, level of branches, and sol molecular weight distribution of the seeded semibatch emulsion polymerization of n‐butyl acrylate carried out at 75 °C was investigated. The gel fraction was strongly affected by the content of the chain‐transfer agent (CTA). The sol weight‐average molecular weights decreased with increasing CTA concentration, whereas no effect on the kinetics and the level of branches was observed. The experimental data were analyzed with a mathematical model of the process that was able to catch fairly well the effect of the process variable. In addition, adhesive tests were carried out to check the effect of the gel fraction on the adhesive properties. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 39: 1106–1119, 2001     

Molecular weight distribution in composition controlled emulsion copolymerization

The effect of different strategies for copolymer composition control on the molecular weight distribution (MWD) and gel fraction in the emulsion copolymerization of methyl methacrylate and butyl acrylate was investigated. Starved and semistarved processes for copolymer composition control were both considered. For gel‐forming systems it was found that the starved process gave more gel and lower molecular weights than the semistarved process. The feasibility of simultaneous control of the copolymer composition and the MWD was assessed. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 38: 1100–1109, 2000