A new approach to continuous emulsion polymerization

The application of a continuous Couette-Taylor vortex reactor to continuous emulsion polymerization was studied. First, the mixing characteristics of the reactor were examined by the stimulus-response method. It was found that the reactor performance was similar to that of a continuous flow reactor consisting of more than 60 well-stirred tanks in series if the reactor was properly designed and operated near the critical Taylor number. It was also shown by a comparison of the particle size distributions of the latices produced in a batch reactor and in the continuous Couette-Taylor vortex that the continuous reactor could produce latex particles with fairly narrow size distribution