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The simulation of hydrolytic polymerization of ε‐caprolactam in various reactors: A simulation model for the tubular reactor with heat exchanger and its numerical solution
Author(s) -
Tai Kazuo,
Arai Yoshihiro,
Tagawa Takashi
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.1983.070280807
Subject(s) - polymerization , caprolactam , heat exchanger , molar mass distribution , hydrolysis , polymer , materials science , polymer chemistry , degree of polymerization , computer simulation , thermodynamics , chemistry , chemical engineering , mechanics , composite material , organic chemistry , physics , engineering
A concrete simulation model which deals with the hydrolytic polymerization of ε‐caprolactam (CL) in the tubular reactor (TR) with the heat exchangers (HEx's) was described, and a method for its numerical solution was presented. The numerical calculations were carried out for 13 cases, where the position and number of the HEx's in the TR were varied. The effects of the HEx on the distribution of the temperature in the TR and of the characteristic data of the polymerization (the concentration of CL and number average degree of polymerization) in the TR and at the outlet of the TR were investigated. The results suggested that the HEx positioned at the upper half of the TR and the HEx positioned at the lower half of the TR are effective to narrow the temperature distribution in the TR and to produce the polymer product with narrower molecular weight distribution, respectively.