A Comprehensive Population Balance Model of Emulsion Polymerisation for PSD & MWD: Comparison to Experimental data

A population balance model for emulsion polymerisation has been developed. This model captures PSD and MWD, both of which are key performance indicators for the end latex product. The model employs purely mechanistic kernels and is aimed at maximising predictive capacity. The model is validated against a multi-objective experimental target. The aim is to predict data for PSD, solids, particle number as well as global molecular weight. The experimental system investigated is a vinyl acetate/butyl acrylate copolymerisation with ionic emulsifier and thermal initiator. The predictive capacity is tested by tuning the model to one set of experimental data, then trying to predict results from a further perturbed experiment, with no further tuning. The results of this study indicate that the model is able to capture the main process trends as well as providing an accurate representation of quantitative data.