Three-Scale Modeling And Simulation Of A Batch Suspension Polymerization Vinyl Chloride Reactor

A three-scale mathematical model of batch suspension polymerization reactors of vinyl chloride is presented and analyzed by simulation. The multidimensional population balance equation which is a meso-scale model of the monomer-polymer droplets population is completed with the macro-scale heat balance equations for the continuous phase and the cooling medium. This hybrid model includes polymerization reactions inside the droplets, random breakage and aggregation of droplets as well as heat and mass exchange between droplets induced by binary collisions. The model equations are solved by a coupled continuous time-Monte Carlo method. The effects of constitutive and process parameters, and, because of polymerization is a strongly exothermic process, the influence of the cooling strategy are investigated by simulation. The simulation results demonstrated that the temperature rise in droplets causes differences in the polymer properties.