Modeling the effects of micromixing and start‐up procedures on bulk copolymerization and copolymer in a tubular reactor

M. Atiqullah*, M. M. Hassan, S. A. Beg

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

The combined effects of micromixing and start‐up procedures on free radical, bulk copolymerization of styrene and acrylonitrile in an isothermal, premixed‐feed tubular reactor have been theoretically analyzed. An axial dispersion model, which takes into account the entire range of backmixing, froms the basis of this analysis. Model predictions show that the overall conversion decreases with the increase of initial styrene content in the reactor, and is not affected by the degree of micromixing. However, for the nonazeotropic feed, the copolymer composition distribution becomes wider with the increase of initial acrylonitrile content in the reactor. For the azeotropic feed, broadening occurs with the decrease of initial acrylonitrile content in the reactor. Average copolymer composition is not affected either by micromixing or start‐up procedure.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)879-889
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Applied Polymer Science
Volume46
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 Oct 1992

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemistry
  • Surfaces, Coatings and Films
  • Polymers and Plastics
  • Materials Chemistry

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