Control of Particle Size Distributions in Emulsion Semibatch Polymerization Using Mid-Course Correction Policies

The manufacture of emulsion polymers with broad and bimodal particle size distribution (PSD) through in situ particle nucleation in semibatch reactors is difficult because of the sensitivity of particle nucleation phenomena to variations in reactor conditions, impurities, and surfactant and initiator properties. In this paper, we present several control strategies based on the use of readily available online and offline measurements to predict …