Residual monomers

Solution Polymerization. Plant scale polymerizations ia water are conducted either adiabaticaHy or isotherm ally. Molecular weight control, exotherm control, and reduction of residual monomer are factors which limit the types of initiators employed. Commercially available high molecular weight solution polyacrylamides are usually manufactured and sold at about 5% soHds so that the viscosities permit the final product to be pumped easily. 

Another method used commercially is to grind the gel and extract the water (and residual monomer) with methanol. The methanol is dried and recycled. The dry polymer is ground and screened. 

Recent patents and pubHcations describe process improvements. Conversions can be followed by on-line hplc (93). The enzyme amidase can be used to reduce residual monomers (94—96). A hydrogenation process for reduction of acrylamide in emulsions containing more that 5% residual monomer has been patented (95). Biodegradable oils have been developed (97). 

Acrylic polymers are considered to be nontoxic. In fact, the FDA allows certain acrylate polymers to be used in the packaging and handling of food. However, care must be exercised because additives or residual monomers present in various types of polymers can display toxicity. For example, some acryflc latex dispersions can be mild skin or eye irritants. This toxicity is usually ascribed to the surfactants in the latex and not to the polymer itself. 

Residual monomers in SAN have been a growing environmental concern and can be determined by a variety of methods. Monomer analysis can be achieved by polymer solution or directly from SAN emulsions (27) followed by "head space" gas chromatography (gc) (28,29). Liquid chromatography (Ic) is also effective (30). 

Residual monomers in the latex are avoided either by effectively reacting the monomers to polymer or by physical or chemical removal. The use of tert-huty peroxypivalate as a second initiator toward the end of the polymeri2ation or the use of mixed initiator systems of K2S20g and tert-huty peroxyben2oate (56) effectively increases final conversion and decreases residual monomer levels. Spray devolatili2ation of hot latex under reduced pressure has been claimed to be effective (56). Residual acrylonitrile also can be reduced by postreaction with a number of agents such as monoamines (57) and dialkylamines (58), ammonium—alkali metal sulfites (59), unsaturated fatty acids or their glycerides (60,61), their aldehydes, esters of olefinic alcohols, cyanuric acid (62,63), andmyrcene (64). 

A twin-screw extmder is used to reduce residual monomers from ca 50 to 0.6%, at 170°C and 3 kPa with a residence time of 2 min (94). In another design, a heated casing encloses the vented devolatilization chamber, which encloses a rotating shaft with specially designed blades (99,100). These continuously regenerate a large surface area to faciUtate the efficient vaporization of monomers. The devolatilization equipment used for the production of polystyrene and ABS is generally suitable for SAN production. 

The isolation and/or identification of nonpolymerics has been described, including analyses for residual monomers (90,102,103) and additives (90,104—106). The deterrnination of localized concentrations of additives within the phases of ABS has been reported the partitioning of various additives between the elastomeric and thermoplastic phases of ABS has been shown to correlate with solubility parameter values (41). 

The polymer can easily be recovered by simple vacuum filtration or centrifugation of the polymer slurry. This can be followed by direct conversion of the filter cake to dope by slurrying the filter cake in chilled solvent and then passing the slurry through a heat exchanger to form the spinning solution and a thin-film evaporator to remove residual monomer. 

Polymers and higher a-olefins are not toxic their main potential health hazards are associated with residual monomer, antioxidants, and catalyst residues. 

Depending on the final polymerization conditions, an equilibrium concentration of monomers (ca 8%) and short-chain oligomers (ca 2%) remains (72). Prior to fiber spinning, most of the residual monomer is removed. In the conventional process, the molten polymer is extmded as a strand, solidified, cut into chip, washed to remove residual monomer, and dried. In some newer continuous processes, the excess monomer is removed from the molten polymer by vacuum stripping. 

A common procedure for the preparation of vinylated alkyds is as foUows. A base alkyd resin is brought to the desired endpoint. The resin is then cooled to about 160°C and often diluted with aromatic thinner. The desired monomer is added, usually at about 20 —60% based on the final product, foUowed by an appropriate amount of a free radical initiator. Alternatively, a premix of the monomer and the initiator is added at a controUed rate over most of the reaction. The reaction is brought to monomer reflux, until the residual monomer content has fallen below a specified level. Residual monomer, if any, is stripped away before the product is diluted in a solvent, filtered, and packaged. 

Kinetics of suspension PVC are identical to the kinetics of mass PVC, both increasing in rate with conversion (90). After polymerization to about 80—90% conversion, excess monomer is recovered, the slurry is steam-stripped in a column to a residual monomer level of about 0.0001% (10 ppm), excess water is centrifuged off, and the resin is dried with hot air. 

Poly(vinyl chloride). Poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) [9002-86-2] is a thermoplastic for building products. It is prepared by either the bulk or the suspension polymerization process. In each process residual monomer is removed because it is carcinogenic. Oxygen must be avoided throughout the process (see Vinyl polymers). 

Residual monomers exhibit a characteristic sharp odor even in subtoxic concentration, due to the very low olfactory threshold. Modem requirements in terms of environmental safeguard have led to significant improvements in the control of polymerization effluents, driving off gases, and residual monomer in the raw polymer. Consequendy, the acryUc elastomers of the 1990s are practically odor-free, and represent a significant improvement over the products of the past. 

Overexposure to acryhc mbbers is not likely to cause significant acute toxic effects. ACM however may contain residual monomers, mainly acrylate monomers, vapors of which are known to cause eye and/or skin irritation. 

After polymerization, excess monomer is stripped and recycled. The residual monomer content of the stripped emulsion does not represent an acute hazard. Worker exposure to monomer is monitored, and sources of exposure identified and corrected. 

After the incident, an investigation team determined that the first operator had not added the initiator when required earlier in the process. When the relief operator added the initiator, the entire monomer mass was in the reactor and the reaction was too energetic for the cooling system to handle. Errors by both operators contributed to the runaway. Both operators were performing many tasks. The initiator should have been added much earlier in the process when much smaller quantities of monomer were present. There was also no procedure to require supervision review if residual monomers were detected. The lesson learned was that operators need thorough training and need to be made aware of significant hazardous scenarios that could develop. 

There have been some questions raised concerning possible carcinogenic hazards of residual monomer. 

From the third reactor the polymer is then run into a devolatilising ( stripping ) vessel in the form of thin strands. At a temperature of 225°C the solvent, residual monomer and some very low molecular weight polymers are removed, condensed and recycled. The polymer is then fed to extruder units, extruded as filaments, granulated, lubricated and stored to await dispatch. 

Particular mention should be made of the influence of styrene monomer (Figure 16.10). An increase of the residual monomer from 0 to 5% can cause a 30°C reduction in softening point. On the other hand there is a marked increase in the ease of flow. It is not, however, good practice to change the flow properties in this way as the monomer will volatilise in the processing machine and the... 

Emission of volatile noxious chemicals from wood-based panels during their production can be caused by chemicals inherent to wood itself, like terpenes or free acids, as well as by volatile compounds and residual monomers of the adhesive. The emission of formaldehyde as well as free phenol effluents is a matter of concern. 

A more difficult criterion to meet with flow markers is that the polymer samples not contain interferents that coelute with or very near the flow marker and either affect its retention time or the ability of the analyst to reproducibly identify the retention time of the peak. Water is a ubiquitous problem in nonaqueous GPC and, when using a refractive index detector, it can cause a variable magnitude, negative area peak that may coelute with certain choices of totally permeated flow markers. This variable area negative peak may alter the apparent position of the flow marker when the flow rate has actually been invariant, thereby causing the user to falsely adjust data to compensate for the flow error. Similar problems can occur with the elution of positive peaks that are not exactly identical in elution to the totally permeated flow marker. Species that often contribute to these problems are residual monomer, reactants, surfactants, by-products, or buffers from the synthesis of the polymer. 

The structure of the UQ-cyt c reductase, also known as the cytochrome bc complex, has been determined by Johann Deisenhofer and his colleagues. (Deisenhofer was a co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the structure of a photosynthetic reaction center [see Chapter 22]). The complex is a dimer, with each monomer consisting of 11 protein subunits and 2165 amino acid residues (monomer mass, 248 kD). The dimeric structure is pear-shaped and consists of a large domain that extends 75 A into the mito-... 

In the case of photoinitiated polymerization, an oxygen-free aqueous solution of acrylamide with a concentration of about 50% mixed with a photosensibilizer and other required additives is passed through a column-type apparatus with exterior water-cooling. A thin layer of the solution is exposed to a mercury lamp, acquires the consistency of a plastic film, which then can be passed through a second exposure zone, and is crushed and dried. Acrylamide polymers produced by this method are easily soluble and have a low residual monomer content. 

To accelerate the polymerization process, some water-soluble salts of heavy metals (Fe, Co, Ni, Pb) are added to the reaction system (0.01-1% with respect to the monomer mass). These additions facilitate the reaction heat removal and allow the reaction to be carried out at lower temperatures. To reduce the coagulate formation and deposits of polymers on the reactor walls, the additions of water-soluble salts (borates, phosphates, and silicates of alkali metals) are introduced into the reaction mixture. The residual monomer content in the emulsion can be decreased by hydrogenizing the double bond in the presence of catalysts (Raney Ni, and salts of Ru, Co, Fe, Pd, Pt, Ir, Ro, and Co on alumina). The same purpose can be achieved by adding amidase to the emulsion. 

Selective sorption by the filler sorption of one of the matrix components (residual monomer, low molecular homologs, various impurities) may lead to plasticization of the boundary layers and appearance of soft interphases [115,116]. 

More recently, the reaction advancement of resole syntheses (pH = 8 and 60°C) was monitored using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), 13C NMR, and chemical assays.55,56 The disappearance of phenol and the appearances of various hydroxymethyl-substituted phenolic monomers and dimers have been measured. By assessing the residual monomer as a function of reaction time, this work also demonstrated the unusually high reactivity of 2,6-dihydroxymethyl-phenol. The rate constants for phenolic monomers toward formaldehyde substitution have been measured (Table 7.6). 

Only a few quantitative data are available on copolymerization of methacrylates. Direct determination of the cross-propagation constants is readily achieved in living polymer systems whenever the absorption spectra of the two propagating species are different. Unfortunately, this is not the case in the methacrylate series. A new approach to this problem was developed by Muller 43). A mixture of two monomers is copolymerized, the reaction is interrupted at various times, and the concentrations of the residual monomers are determined as functions of time. The pertinent differential equations include 4 constants ku, k12, k21, and k22. Since kn and k22 were independently determined, the remaining cross-propagation constants are obtained by computer fitting the experimental conversion curves to the calculated ones. 

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