Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
Spring 5-31-1982
Degree Name
Doctor of Engineering Science in Chemical Engineering
Department
Chemical Engineering and Chemistry
First Advisor
Ching-Rong Huang
Second Advisor
Gordon Lewandowski
Third Advisor
John E. McCormick
Fourth Advisor
Jay Kappraff
Abstract
An experimental study of photosensitized free radical polymerization of styrene in both batch and continuous stirred tank reactors is presented. Each reactor was run under both adiabatic and isothermal conditions. Multiple steady states were investigated. Exact multiplicity and uniqueness criteria for the above systems were derived and a mathematical model developed to correlate the results.
For both adiabatic and isothermal continuous stirred tank reactors operating in the metastable state regions, the conversion and polymer molecular weight are greater than the corresponding lower steady state operations. At a given conversion level, the reaction time for both adiabatic and isothermal continuous stirred tank reactors is less than for an equivalent batch operation. This study indicates that for both isothermal and adiabatic continuous operations, the photopolymerization reactor can be accurately controlled through a simple on-off regulation of light intensity.
Recommended Citation
Kuan, Chih-Ning, "An experimental study of multiple steady states in a photopolymerization reactor" (1982). Dissertations. 1269.
https://digitalcommons.njit.edu/dissertations/1269
