Batch process recipe composition

This section describes some of the tools available for intelligent development of process cycles, such as the time-temperature cycles used in curing composites. Current industrial practice is typically limited to the use of cure cycles. The cycles are based on a series of autoclave temperature and pressure states so that traditional linear, regulatory process control methods can be used. These recipes may not be the ideal method for process control of batch processes because they do not ... 

Emulsion Polymerization A typical recipe is give in Table I. Emulsion polymerization was carried out at 60°C under a nitrogen atmosphere using a batch process. Theoretical solids content in all the formulations was 25%, and generally the conversions were better than 98%. A polyvinyl acetate homopolymer and two poly (vinyl acetate-butyl acrylate) copolymers having VA/BA composition of 85/15 and 70/30 were prepared according to the above procedure. 

The composition of the dispersion agents, which are produced in dedicated reactors, is the same for all recipes. The batch sizes may be one or two polymerization batch units for Dl and one, two, three or four polymerization batch units for D2. The processing times are ten hours for Dl and two hours for D2, and they do not depend on the batch sizes. The dispersion agents in their final states are unstable in the reactors and stable for limited periods of time in the storage... 

In many cases of batch and semi-batch polymerization control there are no on-line measurements of polymer quality (for example, polymer composition, molecular weight) during the batch and these measures of end-use properties are only available at the end of the batch. In this case recipe modifications from one run to the next are common. The minimal information needed to carry out this type of mn-to-run control is a static model relating the manipulated variable to the quality variables at the end of the batch. As pointed out in Ref 7, this model can be as simple as a steady-state (constant) gain relationship or a nonlinear model that includes the effects of different initial conditions and the batch time. The philosophy of statistical process control can be very useful in this case, since the polymer quality variable (for example the Mooney viscosity in elastomer manufacture) can be plotted for each successive batch on a Shewhart (%-bar) chart with the upper and lower control limits placed at three standard deviations above and below the target. 

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