APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR FORMING POLYMER CRUMB

摘要

Contactor apparatus and method (200) for removing solvent from a polymer cement. The resulting polymer is substantially free of solvent and exhibits improved porosity and more uniform particle size distribution. In one embodiment, a contactor apparatus (200) consists of a cylindrical casing (201) having a high pressure section (202), a converfence section (208) a high velocity section (214) a divergence section (220), and a discharge section (226). The polymer cement is introduced into the high pressure section (202) to significantly and unexpectedly improve solvent removal. The convergence (208) and divergence (220) sections preferably have cross-sectional areas that correspond to an angle from about 4 DEG to about 75 DEG . The polymer cement is mixed with high pressure steam. After converging, the polymer cement forms more uniform droplets due to high shear of steam. In the divergence (220) and discharge (226) sections, the polymer is substantially devolatized.