Continuous precipitation polymerization reactor, design

Perhaps the most challenging reactor design problem is the design of the continuous precipitation polymerization reactor. Although several patents (45,46,47) are concerned with this problem, the topic has been generally neglected in the reactor-... 

Batch polymerization reactors are ideal to manufacture small volume polymers, specialty polymers, and polymers that are difficult to make in continuous reactors. Emulsion polymers, suspension polymers, and precipitation polymers are mostly made by batch polymerization processes. One of the disadvantages of a batch reactor is that the ratio of heat transfer surface area to reactor volume decreases as the reactor size is increased. For many polymer products made in batch reactors, the process economy improves with an increase in reactor size. Therefore, effective heat removal becomes a critical factor in designing and controlling a large-scale batch polymerization reactor. 

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