Continuous polymerisation of olefinic monomers - uses a tubular reactor contg. a special temp.-controlled section followed by an adiabatic section discharging into a vacuum degassing chamber

摘要

A system for the continuous polymerisation of olefinically unsatd. cpds. (I) consists of a tubular reactor which discharges into an apparatus in which unreacted monomers and any oligomers produced are removed immediately after polymerisation, by evaporation under reduced pressure. On the inlet side, at least one reactor section is designed as a heat exchanger with baffles, to give a specific heat exchange surface of at least 80 m2 per m3 free reactor vol., so that the temp. difference between heat exchange medium and reaction mixt. at any point in this section can be limited to not more than 30 K. On the outlet side there is a section which is capable of largely adiabatic operation, ending in a perforated plate which is connected to a vacuum chamber. Also claimed is a process for the continuous radical polymerisation of (I) using a tubular reactor as described above, which can be operated with virtually no back-mixing. USE/ADVANTAGE - Provides a pure (unstirred) tubular reactor system which enables the continuous bulk or soln. (co)polymerisation of (I) (e.g. acrylic esters, vinyl cpds. etc.) under conditions of optimum temp. control and minimal back-mixing, to give homogeneous prods. (no "fish eyes" etc.) with high space-time yields.