Strategy for molecular weight distribution control in a batch polymerization reactor system

회분식 중합 반응기에서의 분자량 분포제어 전략

A mathematical model is developed to represent the batch reactor for free radical polymerization of PMMA The model is validated by comparing the simulation result with the experimental data. A computational scheme is proposed to determine the trajectory of the reactor temperature that will produce polymer product having the desired molecular weight distribution. For this instantaneous number average chain length and polydispersity are introduced to calculate the reactor temperature. The former is assumed to be a second order polynomial of the sum of the living and dead polymer concentrations. Various reactor temperature, trajectories are observed depending on the reactor conditions and prescribed molecular weight distributions. Fuzzy and PID control algorithms are applied to trace the reactor temperature trajectory. While the PID control gives rise to an overshoot when the trajectory changes its direction, the fuzzy controller yields a more satisfactory performance because it secures information on the trajectory pattern.