Constraints Due to Reactor Mixing

This general phenomenon of buildup of solid polymer in static areas of the reactor is common to all continuous solution reactors. A major component of the design is to eliminate regions where this may occur. This is one of the drivers for incorporating agitators in the tower reactors which will be discussed in the next section and has also been a driver for removing heat transfer tubes from the reactor which add wall surface. 

The opposite of the large diameter pipeline with little axial or radial mixing is the perfect backmixed reactor with instantaneous mixing and uniformity. For polystyrene reactors with several hours of residence time, complete mixing in 1-2 min is usually adequate to satisfy a practical definition of perfectly mixed. The probability of exit of any fluid element from this type of reactor is independent of when it entered. The residence time distribution is exponential and the molecular weight distribution in the case of no termination is Mw/Mn = 2.0, which will spread out to 2.3 when chain transfer controls. If product requirements necessitate a narrower residence time distribution, one can utilize several of these reactors in series. This becomes necessary to control the grafting distribution in rubber modified polystyrene. 

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