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Free radical solution oligomerization of styrene in a continuous‐stirred tank reactor train
Author(s) -
Hsu KehYing,
Chen ShowAn
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
polymer engineering and science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.503
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1548-2634
pISSN - 0032-3888
DOI - 10.1002/pen.760241608
Subject(s) - continuous stirred tank reactor , monomer , styrene , materials science , oligomer , batch reactor , molar mass distribution , polymer chemistry , chemical engineering , chemistry , catalysis , polymer , organic chemistry , copolymer , composite material , engineering
For free radical oligomerization of styrene, a scheme for calculating the molecular weight distribution and conversion in a continuous‐stirred tank reactor (CSTR) train is developed, which also allows the calculation of molecular weight distribution (MWD) for batch reaction. Calculations show that under conventional or near dead‐end condition: (1) increasing initial initiator concentration, reaction time and reaction temperature, and decreasing initial monomer concentration cause P̄ n and P̄ w to decrease and MWD to narrow; (2) increasing initial initiator concentration, reaction time and reaction temperature, and increasing monomer concentration cause monomer conversion to increase; (3) a single CSTR gives a lower rate of oligomer production, but a narrower MWD than does a batch reactor.