Online Monitoring of Vinyl Chloride Polymerization in a Microreactor Using Raman Spectroscopy

Miruna Dorobantu Bodoc (1) , Laurent E. Prat (1) , Catherine Xuereb (1) , Christophe Gourdon (1) , Thierry Lasuye (2)

1 LGC - Laboratoire de Génie Chimique
2 INEOS Chlorovynils

A novel capillary-based microfluidic device has been designed to follow the vinyl chloride polymerization reaction. The use of a co-flow generation system enabled obtaining monodisperse vinyl chloride droplets within 200 µm in diameter, each one being considered as a polymerization reactor. During polymerization VCM droplets were visualized with a high speed camera. At the end of the reaction PVC grains were observed with a Scanning Electron Microscopy technique. Real-time non-invasive Raman measurement has been performed on stationary vinyl chloride monomer droplets and has provided values of effective reaction orders n and effective rate constants k. This microdevice allowed the investigation in difficult conditions (pressure, temperature) with a minimal amount of reagents and consequently under safe conditions.

Mots clés: Microreactor; Free Radical Polymerization; On-line Monitoring

Domaines: Génie chimique; Génie des procédés

Miruna Dorobantu Bodoc, Laurent E. Prat, Catherine Xuereb, Christophe Gourdon, Thierry Lasuye. Online Monitoring of Vinyl Chloride Polymerization in a Microreactor Using Raman Spectroscopy. Chemical Engineering and Technology, 2012, vol. 35, pp.705-712. ⟨10.1002/ceat.201100564⟩. ⟨hal-00743489⟩