Ultrasonic and conversion-based inline fouling measurements for continuous emulsion copolymerisation of vinyl acetate in a tubular reactor

One of the serious challenges for the implementation of continuous emulsion polymerisation is their significant fouling. The elucidation of time-dependent fouling processes and the development of inline analysis methods for fouling mass quantification are crucial to making progress in this area. Inline-sensor concepts based on ultrasonic measurements as well as residence time and conversion analysis were investigated regarding their suitability for the detection of time-dependent fouling formation and compared with gravimetrical results in order to validate their precision. Both a set-up using a turnover analysis for determination of losses in reaction volume by fouling and an ultrasound-based measurement system detecting deposit-caused changes by evaluating the average sound velocity could be used as suitable sensor concepts. The accuracies of both sensors are below 10% deviation to fouling references.