Pressure-induced phase separation of polymer-solvent systems with dissipative particle dynamics

An important problem in the polymer-processing industryis the separation of solvents and impurities, like unreactedmonomer, from the polymer. In the polymer industry,devolatilising the solvent from the solution by steamstripping can be very energy-intensive as the solvent canamount to 95 wt.-% of the solution. In certain solutionpolymerisation processes, such as the production ofethene-propene copolymers, the cost of this separationcould be up to 10% of the final product cost (Gutowski etal.