A continuous reaction system to investigate dispersion polymerization of vinyl monomers in supercritical carbon dioxide

A laboratory-scale continuous reaction system using a stirred tank reactor was assembled in our laboratory to study the dispersion polymerization of vinyl monomers in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2). The apparatus was equipped with a suitable downstream separation section to collect solid particles entrained in the effluent stream from the reactor, whose monomer concentration could be measured online with a gas chromatograph. The dispersion polymerization of methyl methacrylate in scCO2 was selected as a model process to be investigated in the apparatus. The experiments were performed at 65 °C and 25 MPa with 2,2'-azobisisobutyronitrile as the initiator and a reactive polysiloxane macromonomer as a surfactant to investigate the effect of the mean residence time of the reaction mixture on the monomer conversion, polymerization rate, polymer molecular weight, and particle size distribution. The results were compared with those obtained in batch polymerizations carried out under similar operative conditions.