Continuous Bulk Process for the Production of High-Impact Polystyrene. Recent Developments on Modelling and Control

GREGORIO MEIRA; CARLA LUCIANI; DIANA ESTENOZ

ANGEWANDTE MAKROMOLEKULARE CHEMIE

WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH

Lugar: Weinheim; Año: 2006

0003-3146

(Este trabajo fue aceptado en el 2006 para su publicación en la revista Macromolecular Reaction Engineering, la cual comenzó a editarse este año y es continuación de Die Angewandte Makromolekulare Chemie. Se ingresó con esta última por no poder seleccionarse la primera.) This work presents (in a wider perspective), some of our recent developments on the mathematical modelling and control of the bulk polymerization for the production of high-impact polystyrene (HIPS). The recent model by Casís et al. (2006) assumes the polymerization as heterogeneous, and it calculates (in 2 phases) the global molecular structure of the 3 polymeric components of HIPS (free polystyrene, unreacted polybutadiene, and graft copolymer). At present, a model is being developed capable of estimating the average particle morphology (salami or core-shell). Assuming a continuous bulk HIPS process as homogeneous, Luciani et al. (2005) estimated the evolution of the melt flow index (MFI) of the final product during changes of grade, with the aim of minimizing the intermediate off-spec product. Finally, an unpublished simulation is presented, that describes the transitions between the steady-state (SS) of a HIPS grade and the SS of a general purpose polystyrene (GPPS).