Suspension polymerization Resin

Fig. 1.2 Optical micrograph of suspension polymerized resin beads 200 pm diameter.

The company has 3400 employees and produces PVC suspension polymerization resin with annual capacity of 15 000 tonnes. The major products of this company are caustic soda, pure alkali, PVC, PP, hydrochloric acid, liquid chlorine, chloroform, gasoline, solvent oil, liquefied gas and agricultural chemicals. 

Hunan Zhuzhou Chemical Group has approximately 7000 employees. It produces PVC suspension polymerization resin with annual capacity of 30 000 tonnes. The company is the largest production facility for chemical raw materials in South China. The key products of the company are plastic door and window frames, foam core pipe, p-chlorotoluene, o-chlorotoluene, ethylamine, vitriol, PVC, NaOH, liquid chlorine, hydrochloric acid, chloral, F-22, chloroform, fluoride, sodium silicate and hydrofluoric acid. 

The company has 1000+ employees. Its major product is PVC suspension polymerization resin with annual capacity of 20 000 tonnes. 

The company, built in 1958, has 3100 employees. Major products are PVC paste and PVC suspension polymerization resin. The annual capacity of PVC paste is 10 000 tonnes. The annual PVC resin capacity is 32 000 tonnes. 

Suspension Polymerization. Suspension polymerisation yields polymer in the form of tiny beads, which ate primarily used as mol ding powders and ion-exchange resins. Most suspension polymers prepared as mol ding powders are poly(methyl methacrylate) copolymers containing up to 20% acrylate for reduced btittieness and improved processibiUty are also common. 

The discovery of PTFE (1) in 1938 opened the commercial field of perfluoropolymers. Initial production of PTFE was directed toward the World War II effort, and commercial production was delayed by Du Pont until 1947. Commercial PTFE is manufactured by two different polymerization techniques that result in two different types of chemically identical polymer. Suspension polymerization produces a granular resin, and emulsion polymerization produces the coagulated dispersion that is often referred to as a fine powder or PTFE dispersion. 

Suspension polymerization of VDE in water are batch processes in autoclaves designed to limit scale formation (91). Most systems operate from 30 to 100°C and are initiated with monomer-soluble organic free-radical initiators such as diisopropyl peroxydicarbonate (92—96), tert-huty peroxypivalate (97), or / fZ-amyl peroxypivalate (98). Usually water-soluble polymers, eg, cellulose derivatives or poly(vinyl alcohol), are used as suspending agents to reduce coalescence of polymer particles. Organic solvents that may act as a reaction accelerator or chain-transfer agent are often employed. The reactor product is a slurry of suspended polymer particles, usually spheres of 30—100 pm in diameter they are separated from the water phase thoroughly washed and dried. Size and internal stmcture of beads, ie, porosity, and dispersant residues affect how the resin performs in appHcations. 

There are two principal PVC resins for producing vinyl foams suspension resin and dispersion resin. The suspension resin is prepared by suspension polymerization with a relatively large particle size in the 30—250 p.m range and the dispersion resin is prepared by emulsion polymerization with a fine particle size in the 0.2—2 p.m range (245). The latter is used in the manufacture of vinyl plastisols which can be fused without the appHcation of pressure. In addition, plastisol blending resins, which are fine particle size suspension resins, can be used as a partial replacement for the dispersion resin in a plastisol system to reduce the resin costs. 

The product of a successful suspension polymerization is small, uniform polymer spheres. For certain appHcations, they are used directly, eg, as the precursors for ion-exchange resins or bead foams. For others, they may be extmded and chopped to form larger, more easily handled mol ding pellets. 

Suspension Polymerization. At very low levels of stabilizer, eg, 0.1 wt %, the polymer does not form a creamy dispersion that stays indefinitely suspended in the aqueous phase but forms small beads that setde and may be easily separated by filtration (qv) (69). This suspension or pearl polymerization process has been used to prepare polymers for adhesive and coating appHcations and for conversion to poly(vinyl alcohol). Products in bead form are available from several commercial suppHers of PVAc resins. Suspension polymerizations are carried out with monomer-soluble initiators predominantly, with low levels of stabilizers. Suspension copolymerization processes for the production of vinyl acetate—ethylene bead products have been described and the properties of the copolymers determined (70). Continuous tubular polymerization of vinyl acetate in suspension (71,72) yields stable dispersions of beads with narrow particle size distributions at high yields. 

Suspension Polymerization. Suspension polymerization is carried out in small droplets of monomer suspended in water. The monomer is first finely dispersed in water by vigorous agitation. Suspension stabiUzers act to minimize coalescence of droplets by forming a coating at the monomer—water interface. The hydrophobic—hydrophilic properties of the suspension stabiLizers ate key to resin properties and grain agglomeration (89). 

A macroporous polystyrene-divinylbenzene copolymer is produced by a suspension polymerization of a mixture of monomers in the presence of water as a precipitant. This is substantially immiscible with the monomer mixture but is solubilized with a monomer mixture by micelle-forming mechanisms in the presence of the surfactant sodium bis(2-ethylhexylsulfosuccinate) (22). The porosity of percentage void volume of macroporous resin particles is related to percentage weight of the composite (50% precipitant, 50% solvent) in the monomer mixture. 

Beaded acrylamide resins (28) are generally produced by w/o inverse-suspension polymerization. This involves the dispersion of an aqueous solution of the monomer and an initiator (e.g., ammonium peroxodisulfates) with a droplet stabilizer such as carboxymethylcellulose or cellulose acetate butyrate in an immiscible liquid (the oil phase), such as 1,2-dichloroethane, toluene, or a liquid paraffin. A polymerization catalyst, usually tetramethylethylenediamine, may also be added to the monomer mixture. The polymerization of beaded acrylamide resin is carried out at relatively low temperatures (20-50°C), and the polymerization is complete within a relatively short period (1-5 hr). The polymerization of most acrylamides proceeds at a substantially faster rate than that of styrene in o/w suspension polymerization. The problem with droplet coagulation during the synthesis of beaded polyacrylamide by w/o suspension polymerization is usually less critical than that with a styrene-based resin. 

Hacroreticular resins are prepared by suspension polymerization of, for example, styrene-divinylbenzene copolymers in the presence of a substance which is a good solvent for the sononer but a poor swelling agent for the polymer [178-180]. Each resin bead is formed from many microbeads joined together during the polymerization process to create a network of holes and 7 channels. This results in greater mechanical stability,... 

The most widely used type of resin is a copolymer of styrene and divinyl benzene produced in bead form by suspension polymerization in an aqueous medium. 

Suspension Polymerized Particulate Resin Supports -Structural and Morphological Variants... 

Since cross-linked polymers caruiot be re-formed or re-shaped it is necessary to synthesize them in the final physical form appropriate for each particular application. Particles in the size range 50-1000 pm are suitable for laboratory scale chemistry, while larger particles have advantages in large scale continuous processes. Irregularly shaped particles are susceptible to mechanical attrition and breakdown to fines , whereas the process of suspension polymerization [13] yields uniform spherical cross-linked polymer particles often referred to as beads, pearls or resins. These are much more mechanically robust and are widely exploited on both a small and large scale e. g. as the basis of ion exchange resins [14]. 

Suspension polymerization either little or no dispersion agent is used and vigorous agitation is maintained. A precipitated resin, commonly referred to as granular resin, is produced. 

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