Mathematical Modeling of Nylon 6/6,6 Copolymerization in Batch Reactor: Investigating Recipes without Water and with Cyclic Dimer

A model is used to simulate batch copolymerization of caprolactam with hexamethylene diamine (HMD) and adipic acid (ADA) to produce nylon 6/6,6. Four different recipes are considered: a recipe containing caprolactam and an aqueous solution of HMD and ADA, a recipe containing caprolactam and dry HMD/ADA salt, and two recipes with a portion of the caprolactam replaced by nylon 6 cyclic dimer (CD). Consuming CD would be advantageous because CD is an undesirable side product from nylon 6 production. Simulation results lead to three important findings: (i) operation using dry salt rather than aqueous salt solution leads to higher degree of polymerization, (ii) substantial quantities of CD can be consumed to produce nylon 6/6,6 copolymer, and (iii) including water in the recipe is beneficial for achieving improved consumption of CD. The results of this study will be helpful in designing experiments aimed at improving industrial nylon 6/6,6 copolymerization processes.