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Mathematical Modeling of Nylon 6/6,6 Copolymerization in Batch Reactor: Investigating Recipes without Water and with Cyclic Dimer
Author(s) -
Liu Fei F.,
Hurley James M.,
Khare Neeraj P.,
McAuley Kim B.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
macromolecular reaction engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.37
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1862-8338
pISSN - 1862-832X
DOI - 10.1002/mren.201700040
Subject(s) - copolymer , caprolactam , adipic acid , aqueous solution , polymer chemistry , polymerization , salt (chemistry) , monomer , nylon 6 , recipe , diamine , materials science , dimer , chemistry , polymer science , chemical engineering , polymer , organic chemistry , food science , engineering
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.