Optimal Periodic Control of a Continuous `Living´ Anionic Polymerization. II. New Theoretical Results

FRONTINI, G. L.; ELIÇABE, G. E.; MEIRA, G. R.

JOURNAL OF APPLIED POLYMER SCIENCE

Año: 1987 vol. 33 p. 2165 - 2177

0021-8995

In a previous publication, a suboptimal technique was developed to solve the problem of producing polymers with prespecified values of the number-average chain length and the polydispersity, through ´living´ anionic polymerizations carried out in continuous stirred-tank reactors. The solution of that problem involved the periodic operation of the monomer solution feed and of the initiator solution feed, as well as readjustments in their feedstock concentrations. The present work solves the problem directly, without resorting to laborious ´optimization-rescaling´ procedures. The proposed technique may be applicable to other optimal periodic control problems with nonconventional objective functionals.