Basis vinyl chloride monomer process

World-wide consumption of PVC [poly(vinyl chloride)] has increased dramatically in the past few years. It has now exceeded 8 billion lbs annually. The production of VCM (vinyl chloride monomer) has also been expanded to meet the PVC demand. Future trends for VCM and PVC pro-ductions for the next five years can be forecast on the basis of the raw materials sources, the different process techniques in manufacturing VCM and PVC, and their relative economics, technical merits, and limitations. VCM will be produced principally through the ethylene route by fluid-bed oxyhydrochlorination of ethylene and thermal cracking of ethylene dichloride. PVC will be produced by various processes resulting in more specialized PVC varieties tailored for specific end markets and new processing technologies. 

Note that suspension polymerization is only superficially related to emulsion polymerization, which was outlined in Chapter 8. In suspension processes the coagulation of the dispersion is controlled by agitation plus the action of a water-soluble polymer and/or a fine particle size inorganic powder. The role of water is to act primarily as a heat transfer medium. In vinyl chloride suspension polymerization the specific heat of the monomer and polymer are about equal and are one-quarter that of water, on an equal weight basis. Thus, at the typical 1.5/1 water/vinyl chloride mass ratio the heat capacity of the aqueous phase is about six times that of the organic phase. Another use of water is, of course, to keep the viscosity of the reaction medium at a useful level. Water/monomer ratios of 1.5/1 to 1.75/1 provide a good compromise between suspension concentration and viscosity. 

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