Nowadays, the majority of the world polymer production is obtained through discontinuous or semi-continuous processes. In the specific case of free-radical polymerization (FRP), discontinuous processes suffer from many limitations with respect to safety, productivity, product quality and cost. In this work, we report a model-assisted strategy for transition of the solution FRP of non-ionized acrylic acid (AA) from batch to continuous with the aim of preserving the product quality in terms of weight-average molecular weight. A basic kinetic model is developed and validated by comparison with experimental results for three reactor configurations, batch, semibatch and continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR). Then, examples of transitioning from a semibatch to a continuous process, using a stirred tank reactor, are analysed. Taking advantage of the validated model, a successful transition is designed through an optimization procedure. Based on a minimum acceptable monomer conversion of 98%, an increase in the polymer productivity up to 88% is achieved.

中文翻译：

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使用搅拌釜反应器从丙烯酸批处理到连续自由基溶液聚合

如今，世界上大多数聚合物的生产都是通过不连续或半连续过程获得的。在自由基聚合（FRP）的特定情况下，不连续过程在安全性，生产率，产品质量和成本方面受到许多限制。在这项工作中，我们报告了一种模型辅助策略，用于将非离子化丙烯酸（AA）的溶液FRP从批次过渡到连续，目的是在重均分子量方面保留产品质量。通过与三种反应器配置（间歇式，半间歇式和连续搅拌釜式反应器（CSTR））的实验结果进行比较，开发并验证了基本动力学模型。然后，分析了使用搅拌釜反应器从半间歇过渡到连续过程的实例。利用经过验证的模型，可以通过优化程序来设计成功的过渡。基于98％的最小可接受单体转化率，可实现高达88％的聚合物生产率提高。