SEMICONTINUOUS SEEDED EMULSION COPOLYMERIZATION OF VINYL-ACETATE AND METHYL ACRYLATE

The semicontinuous seeded emulsion copolymerization of vinyl acetate and methyl acrylate was investigated. The effect of type of process (starved process versus semi-starved process), type of feed (neat monomer addition versus monomer emulsion addition), amount of seed initially charged in the reactor, and feed rate on the time evolution of the overall conversion, copolymer composition, and polymer particle size was analyzed. It was found that, in the case of the starved process, both monomers, but mainly vinyl acetate, accumulated in the reactor. The preferential accumulation of vinyl acetate resulted in a drift of the copolymer composition. Both monomers accumulation and copolymer composition drift were reduced by increasing the amount of seed initially charged in the reactor and by decreasing the feed rate. For the semi-starved process, it was found that a vinyl acetate rich copolymer was formed when a low methyl acrylate feed was used, whereas a methyl acrylate rich copolymer was obtained at high methyl acrylate feed rates. For both starved process and semi-starved process, the total number of polymer particles, after an initial increase, reached a plateau value which was the same in all of the experiments carried out. These results were analyzed by means of a mathematical model developed for this system.