Effect of Cooling Fluid Flow Rate on the Estimation of Conversion by Calorimetry in a Lab-Scale Reactor

Significant information about polymerization reactions carried out in lab-scale reactors is lost because sampling is not always possible due to the high viscosity, heterogeneity of the reaction medium or pressurization of the reactor. Thus, monitoring these reactions through calorimetry technique could be very valuable. Nevertheless, standard lab-scale reactors can present a relatively high residence time of the cooling fluid in the jacket and significant heat loss of the jacket to the surroundings. In the present work, the effect of the cooling fluid flow rate on the estimation of conversion through isothermal and isoperibolic calorimetry during a batch emulsion polymerization was investigated. Results show that the estimation of conversion through isothermal and isoperibolic calorimetry was not significantly affected by the cooling fluid flow rate using heat flow calorimetry. Nevertheless, when employing the energy balance of the jacket and the estimation of the global heat exchange coefficient between the jacket and the surroundings to estimate conversion (heat balance calorimetry) better results were obtained for lower cooling fluid flow rates.