Adaptive Control of Emulsion Polymerization in a Seeded Stirred Tank Reactor

An improved reactor design for the emulsion polymerization process which incorporates the known concepts of a plug flow pre - reactor and split feed operation has been described. The reactor configuration eliminates oscillations in the latex properties and offers potential savings in capital and operating costs. The Vogel-Edgar multivariable controller has been applied to the reactor system, the major motivation being the strong nonlinearities exhibited by the emulsion process. The controller is successful in controlling the monomer conversion and average particle size in the presence of unmeasured disturbances. Satisfactory closed - loop performance is also obtained for the servo problem.