| Abstract: | The dynamic behavior of the solution polymerization of styrene in a continuous stirred tank reactor is analyzed with a mixture of tert-butyl perbenzoate and benzoyl peroxide as an initiator system. In the modeling of the reactor, a viscosity dependent reactor wall heat transfer coefficient is used to account for the changing heat transfer efficiency as monomer conversion and polymer molecular weight increase. The steady state and bifurcation behaviors have been investigated with the reactor residence time, initiator feed composition, initiator concentration, feed solvent volume fraction, and coolant temperature as bifurcation parameters. Unlike the reactors with constant heat transfer coefficient, the present system exhibits relatively simple steady state and dynamic bifurcation behaviors. Oscillatory behavior is observed only when the solvent volume fraction in the feed exceeds 0.2. The dynamic simulation of the reactor also indicates that a feedback temperature controller may fail to maintain the reactor temperature when the heat transfer coefficient changes as a result of process disturbances. |
