START-UP PROCEDURES IN THE EMULSION COPOLYMERIZATION OF VINYL ESTERS IN A CONTINUOUS LOOP REACTOR

Different start-up strategies for the 55 wt% solids content redox-init iated emulsion copolymerization of vinyl acetate and Veova 10 in a con tinuous loop reactor were studied to determine the optimal start-up pr ocedure in terms of smoothness of the operation and minimum out-of-spe cification product. These strategies included different initial charge s and temperature profiles. The evolutions of the monomer conversion, particle size, number of polymer particles and molecular weight distri bution during the start-up were analysed and the effect of the start-u p procedure on the steady-state values of these variables determined.