Modelling and simulation of semi-batch polymerisation reactor for improved reactants dosing control

This paper presents a temperature model of an industrial, semi-batch, emulsion-polymerisation reactor, which together with the already designed chemical reactions model is able to predict the temperature in the reactor as a result of varying operating conditions. The model was derived from the energy balance equations and validated on real-plant data. The model was used to analyse the influence of reactants dosing during the batch on the reactor temperature. The analysis shows that during the batch dosing of the two reactants, initiator and monomer, needs to be mutually balanced and adjusted to the current process situation, otherwise, the temperature in the reactor may become oscillatory and unstable towards the end of the batch because of the limited heat removal capacity of the condenser. To keep the reactor temperature in a narrow region also the control strategy was proposed that adjusts the monomer flow and initiator addition, using reactor temperature as a controlled variable. Simulation results show that the proposed reactants dosing control significantly reduces the variations in the reactor temperature and at the same time results in more uniform final batch results.