Continuous Miniemulsion Polymerization

Most miniemulsion polymerizations are carried out in batch reactors. However, continuous reactors or continuous reactor trains can provide a high level of consistency when operated at steady state. In this feature article, progress in continuous miniemulsion polymerization will be reviewed. Special attention will be given to issues of monomer diffusion and secondary nucleation. A large portion of the paper will be devoted to controlled radical polymerization for two reasons. First, this is a relatively new field, particularly when continuous reactors are considered, and second, for controlled radical polymerization in continuous reactors, the molecular weight distribution of the product is a direct function of the reactor residence time distribution.