Early results are presented for control of conversion kinetics in free radical inverse emulsion polymerization of acrylamide using the ACOMP/CI (automatic continuous online monitoring of polymerization reactions with control interface). Recent work in automatic control of simultaneous molecular weight and copolymer composition trajectories for non-emulsion systems is shown as a prelude to similar control in emulsion polymerization. Initial results on coupling of a 60 MHz process NMR to the ACOMP detector train in order to control terpolymer composition during synthesis are discussed. A dual stream approach has also been taken with inverse emulsion polymerization in which one stream is inverted and broken with surfactants to measure conversion and reduced viscosity, and a second stream uses dilution with oil for simultaneous measurement of emulsion size distributions using Mie scattering. Implementation of ACOMP on full scale industrial inverse emulsion reactions has begun in the past few years, which includes the ability to monitor the approach of reactions to low level ppm residual monomer setpoints, while also continuously monitoring reduced viscosity. The outlook for near term industrial implementation of ACOMP/CI in the industrial sector is discussed.

Monitoring of emulsion polymerization with ACOMP and early results on control

255th National Meeting (2018)

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