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Polymerization Reactors

Our research activities in polymer manufacturing are focused on several polymerization reactor technologies used to produce a wide variety of products for consumer and industrial markets.

Experimental Facilities

The Consortium has access to three research-scale polymerization reactor facilities. A semi-batch slurry reactor located in the UMass Department of Polymer Science and Engineering (Coughlin lab) can be used to investigate the kinetics of metallocene catalysts used for the production of ethylene and propylene homopolymers and ethylene/propylene copolymers.

A semi-batch reactor located at UIUC (Braatz lab) can be used to investigate the kinetics of solution, bulk, and suspension polymerization using Focused Beam Reflection Measurement, Process Video Microscopy, and ATR-FTIR spectroscopy.

Suspension polymerization apparatus showing in-situ sensors

A semi-batch emulsion polymerization reactor equipped with a CHDF-based particle size analyzer located at UCSB (Doyle lab) is used to make vinyl acetate/butyl acrylate copolymers.

Overall experimental system with the Honeywell Distributed Control

Experimental system including the sampling loop and the feed burettes

3-L borosilicate semibatch emulsion polymerization reactor

Anton Parr online densitometer converting vibrating frequency

Matec Capillary Hydrodynamic Fractionator (CHDF) providing online high resolution measurements of the Particle Size Distribution (PSD)

Current Projects

Kinetic Modeling of Metallocene Catalyzed Propylene Polymerization
PIs: Michael Henson and Bryan Coughlin
Sponsors: General Electric, University of Massachusetts
Student: Bernabe Quevedo
The objective of this project is to develop kinetic models that allow quantitative prediction of production rate and molecular weight in the metallocene-catalyzed polymerization of propylene.

Systems Engineering of Distributions in Chain Length and Particle Size in Emulsion Polymerization
PI: Frank Doyle
Sponsors: UCSB
Student: Mustafa Dokucu
The objective of this project is to develop distributed models that facilitate the prediction and control of distributions in molecular weight, and simultaneously particle size. The results are evaluated on an experimental system.

Selected Publications

E. J. Hukkanen and R. D. Braatz. Measurement of particle size distribution in suspension polymerization using in situ laser backscattering. Sensors and Actuators B, 96, 451-459, 2003.

R. Li., A. B. Corripio, M. A. Henson and K. J. Kurtz, “On-line State and Parameter Estimation of EPDM Polymerization Reactors,” J. Process Control, 14, 837-852, 2004.

R. Li, M. A. Henson, A. B. Corripio, K. M. Dooley and K. J. Kurtz, “Dynamic Modeling of Cross-linking and Gelation in Continuous Ethylene-Propylene-Diene Polymers Reactors using Pseudo-Kinetic Constant Approach,” Chem. Eng. Sci., 59, 2297-2313, 2004.

M.J. Park, D. Dokocu, and F.J. Doyle III, “Regulation of Emulsion PSD to Optimal Trajectory Using PLS Model-based Predictive Control”, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 43, 7227-7237, 2004.

Y.Wang and F.J. Doyle III, “Reachability Analysis of Particle Size Distribution in Semi-batch Emulsion Polymerization”, AIChE J., 50, 3049-3059, 2004.