(432a) An Industrial R&D Perspective On Polymer Reaction Engineering and Control From Laboratory to Commercial Scale

?An Industrial R&D Perspective on
Polymer Reaction Engineering and Control from Laboratory to Commercial Scale?

K.W. Leffew, T.W.
Francisco, K.C. Crather, C.F. Woodward (DuPont Experimental Station), P.B. Deshpande (University of Louisville)

For presentation at
the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Institute of
Chemical Engineers, Nov., 2013

Abstract

Effective
scale-up of industrial processes that include polymerization operations
requires a number of unique considerations and approaches to ensure that the
resultant commercial processes and products meet the design
specifications.  Design of small scale
polymerization equipment and experimental strategy are critical elements to
obtaining basic data that will be useful to the larger scale operations.  Process control is a particularly important
part of polymerization reaction engineering that is often overlooked at the
laboratory or pre-pilot scale.  Examples
from various types of polymerizations (condensation and bulk, solution and
emulsion addition polymerizations) will be discussed to illustrate this
industrial perspective and highlight some of the best practices and pitfalls
that are encountered in scale-up of polymerization operations.