A Hybrid Mathematical Model for the Emulsion Polymerization of Styrene and Butadiene

R.J. MINARI; G. STEGMAYER; G. MARTINEZ DELFA; C. BOSCHETTI; J.R. VEGA; L.M. GUGLIOTTA

Viña del Mar, Chile

Simposio; IV Simposio Chileno-Argentino de Polímeros-ARCHIPOL 2007; 2007

Archipol-Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

The production of polymers with controlled quality properties is a major challenge in research activities as well as in industrial applications. Unfortunately, on-line polymer reactor control strategies are usually difficult to be implemented due to the lack of instantaneous measurements of most polymer quality variables. Several state estimation and control techniques have been proposed, which are frequently based on “representative” mathematical models of the polymerization process [1, 2]. Mathematical models based on first principles (FP) have been successfully employed for the industrial emulsion copolymerization of styrene (St) and butadiene (B) [3], but such models have been unable to predict the Mooney viscosity of the produced St-B rubber (SBR). Recently, artificial neural networks (ANN) have been also proposed for such polymerization system [2, 4]. In this work the emulsion copolymerization of St and B is investigated with the aim of developing a hybrid mathematical model for predicting gravimetric monomer conversion, average values of particle diameter, copolymer composition, molecular weights and degree of branching, and Mooney viscosity of the produced SBR.