Scale-Up and Control of the Acrylamide Polymerization Process in Solution

Abstract

The scale-up and control of the acrylamide polymerization process in solution is presented. The viscosity is modeled as a function of temperature and monomer concentration. Four cases are analyzed: (i) Keeping the similarity principles to carry out the polymerization using water to heat and cool the process, (ii) using water with nanoparticles to heat and cool the process, (iii) adding the initiator at different temperatures to start the polymerization, and (iv) modifying the heat-transfer area by changing the aspect ratio L/Dr. The reactor and jacket temperature profiles, the reaction conversion, and the average molecular weight are presented. The main finding is that increasing the heat-transfer area by modifying the L/Dr ratio also increases the efficiency of the polymerization process. Futhermore, the numerical results indicate that the addition of the initiator at low temperatures increases the molecular weight of the final product.