STUDY ON THE CONTINUOUS LOOP TUBULAR REACTOR FOR EMULSION POLYMERIZATION OF STYRENE

A continuous loop tubular reactor (CLTR) with a Bodenstein number of 100 and a recycle ratio of 0.992 (obtained under the conditions of a mean residence time of 25.0 to 59.95 min and a stirring rate of 418 rpm) was used for studying the emulsion polymerization of styrene (St). The recipe used in the study is 76.8 g St/l‐water, 3.73 g sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS)/l‐water, and 2.30 g potassium persulfate (KPS)/l‐water. The effects of the mean residence time on the performance of emulsion polymerization were studied. The overshoots in the monomer conversion and the particle number concentration were found to be higher as the mean residence time increased. The overshoots diminished at about 3 times the mean residence time. The steady state particle number concentration was independent of the mean residence time, while the steady state monomer conversion increased with increasing mean residence time. Copyright © 1990 Society of Plastics Engineers