Influence of Medium Composition on Acrylic Acid Solution Polymerization and Process Scale‐Up

Summary The main objective of the present study was the production of poly(acrylic acid) through solution polymerizations in a process scale compatible with the commercial manufacture of dental cements. In order to do that, the work was divided into three fundamental steps. In the first step, the effect of system composition on final dental cement performance was analyzed with small reactors (50 mL). Then, the effect of the operation mode (batch or semibatch) on process performance and dental cement properties was also evaluated. Finally, process performance and dental cement properties were evaluated at a larger scale (12 L). It is shown that dental cements with adequate properties can be produced in both batch and semibatch modes with small reactors. However, at larger scales appropriate dental cements and safe process operation can only be obtained with the semibatch operation mode, requiring significant modification of recipes developed with small scale bench reactors.