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Impact of flow regime on polydispersity in tubular RAFT miniemulsion polymerization
Author(s) -
Russum James P.,
Jones Christopher W.,
Schork F. Joseph
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.10730
Subject(s) - miniemulsion , dispersity , laminar flow , plug flow , residence time distribution , raft , materials science , laminar flow reactor , polystyrene , chain transfer , polymerization , polymer chemistry , flow (mathematics) , chemical engineering , reynolds number , chemistry , polymer , mechanics , radical polymerization , open channel flow , composite material , turbulence , physics , engineering
The flow characteristics of a miniemulsion in a tubular reactor were assessed using a modified dye tracer approach. Metered nitrogen was introduced producing isolated plug flow. The effects of the flow regime were then related to the polydispersity of polystyrene formed using reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT). While nonideal flow was exhibited at very low Reynolds numbers (≤ 20), laminar flow was not. This was attributed to fluid slippage at the wall of the reactor. It was demonstrated that the flow regime and residence time distribution have a direct effect on the molecular weight polydispersity of the polymer. Transient behavior during startup of isolated plug flow was attributed via experimental data and modeling to loss of initiator by way of water droplets left behind by the small cylinders of miniemulsion. © 2006 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2006