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Dynamics of a continuous stirred tank reactor for styrene polymerization initiated by a binary initiator mixture. II: Effect of viscosity dependent heat transfer coefficient
Author(s) -
Kim Kee Jeong,
Choi Kyu Yong,
Alexander James C.
Publication year - 1992
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.760320707
Subject(s) - materials science , continuous stirred tank reactor , heat transfer coefficient , thermodynamics , styrene , heat transfer , polymerization , viscosity , chemical engineering , polymer chemistry , polymer , composite material , copolymer , physics , engineering
The dynamic behavior of the solution polymerization of styrene in a continuous stirred tank reactor is analyzed with a mixture of tert‐butyl perbenzoate and benzoyl peroxide as an initiator system. In the modeling of the reactor, a viscosity dependent reactor wall heat transfer coefficient is used to account for the changing heat transfer efficiency as monomer conversion and polymer molecular weight increase. The steady state and bifurcation behaviors have been investigated with the reactor residence time, initiator feed composition, initiator concentration, feed solvent volume fraction, and coolant temperature as bifurcation parameters. Unlike the reactors with constant heat transfer coefficient, the present system exhibits relatively simple steady state and dynamic bifurcation behaviors. Oscillatory behavior is observed only when the solvent volume fraction in the feed exceeds 0.2. The dynamic simulation of the reactor also indicates that a feedback temperature controller may fail to maintain the reactor temperature when the heat transfer coefficient changes as a result of process disturbances.