• Corpus ID: 7115016

OPTIMIZATION OF EMULSION COPOLYMERIZATION REACTIONS. EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION

@article{Sayer2006OPTIMIZATIONOE,
  title={OPTIMIZATION OF EMULSION COPOLYMERIZATION REACTIONS. EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION},
  author={Claudia Sayer and Reinaldo Giudici and Pedro Henrique Hermes Ara{\'u}jo},
  journal={Latin American Applied Research},
  year={2006},
  volume={36},
  pages={235-240}
}

• C. Sayer, R. Giudici, P. Araújo
• Published 1 October 2006
• Materials Science
• Latin American Applied Research

Time optimal monomer and reactor temperature set-point profiles were computed and implemented experimentally for the control of co- polymer composition and minimization of reaction time in emulsion copolymerization systems. Iterative Dynamic Programming (IDP) was used for the off- line calculation of the optimal profiles. This ap- proach can deal with constrained optimization of systems described by complex mathematical models, as those needed for the emulsion copolymerization. The optimization procedure was applied to vinyl acetate / butyl acrylate emulsion copolymerization under industrial-like conditions, which includes safety constraints normally found in the operation of large-scale reactors. The dynamics of the reactor heat exchange system were also taken into account in the mathematical model. The optimal trajectories obtained by the IDP procedure were implemented in a jacketed reactor with automated control of tem- perature and monomers feed flow rates. The real- time implementation of the optimal trajectories was successfully carried out resulting in a significant re- duction in reaction time and the production of ho- mogeneous copolymer composition.