Interpretation of mixing effects in a tubular recycle polymerization reactor packed with static mixers

Results presented in previous papers on partial segregation of a chain-transfer agent feedstream in a tubular recycle reactor packed with static mixers for the soln. polymn. of styrene are interpreted with the segregated feed model (SFM). Exptl. results are expressed in the form of the correlation a = 1-Xs/Xs = a'[tr(v/e)1/2]0.62, where a is the micromixedness ratio, e is the power dissipation per unit mass, Xs is the segregation index, a' is a const., tr is the reaction time const., and v is the kinematic viscosity. Numerical simulations based on the SFM involving a simplified model of polymn. account for this correlation which is a special case of a more general relation already proposed by the authors, a = a(tr/tm)b, where tm is a global mixing time including both diln. and micromixing of the chain transfer agent. Exponent b = 0.62 is retrieved. Expts. with Sulzer SMXL mixers at 160 Deg indicate that a = 3.68 and tm = 1.08 * 104(v/e)1/2. [on SciFinder (R)]