Thermal stability of polymerization reactors

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Abstract
Temperature rises which occur in the early stages of polymerization in batch reactors are discussed. Comparisons between experimental results and a reactor model shows that realistic predictions of temperature rises can be made when the model allows for changes in density and specific heat of the reaction fluid. In the case of styrene polymerization, the neglect of density and specific heat changes leads to the prediction of large temperature increases, which are not found in practice. When allowance for these changes in physical properties is made, agreement between theoretical prediction and experimental results is good.