Scaleup of Polymerization Processes

The success of the petrochemical industry in the 20th century is attributable in large part to the scalability of typical chemical processes. This chapter discusses the technical basis for achieving capacity increases without major changes in technology. These techniques are broadly applicable to the development of new polymers and new polymerization processes. They continue to be applied to existing processes, although no process is infinitely scalable. Eventually, a limit must be reached. 

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I 70 Scaleup of Polymerization Processes Tab. 10.2. Scaleup factors for tubes. 

The scaleup of polymerization processes is conceptually identical to the scaleup of ordinary chemical reactions. The principal difference is that polymer systems are more likely to be highly viscous and in laminar flow. Although polymer melts can be markedly non-Newtonian, this is rarely a critical factor in the scaleup of polymer reaction and recovery systems. Vinyl polymerizations have strong exotherms so that parametric sensitivity and thermal runaways can be a problem, but so do many other chemical reactions. Condensation polymerizations tend to be equilibrium-limited, but so do many other chemical reactions. 

At the moment the major challenge of ultrasound-induced polymer processes is the scaleup, mainly in terms of energy conversion of the ultrasound generator to the probe. Although no large-scale industrial polymerization process based on ultrasound exists yet, commercial applications in other fields such as ultrasound cleaning and sterilization prove that ultrasound is a readily available technique... 

You are in charge of scaling up an asymmetric oxidation process for making 10 tpa (tons per annum) of a pharmaceutical intermediate which sells at 5000 ( 6750) per kg. The lab-scale reaction uses 2 mol% of a Ru-ligand complex as a catalyst and DMSO as solvent. List the factors you must consider when planning your scaleup operation. How would your list change if the product were a polymerization additive with a market price of 50 ( 67) per kg ... 

Therefore it is essential to study the thermal behavior of a polymerization reaction during process development. A safe process may only be designed if these phenomena are thoroughly understood and if the corresponding engineering means are used for scaleup. A well suited tool for this kind of study is reaction calorimetry [23-26]. 

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