POLYMER DEVOLATILIZATION - STATE-OF-THE-ART

The current state of the art on polymer devolatilization is reviewed. After a brief description of existing processes, two aspects of the problem are taken into consideration: modeling and optimization of actual processes, and physicochemical data needed for analysis. It is shown that, while many of the available models concentrate on the fluid mechanics involved and on mass transfer, heat transfer may well be the rate determining phenomenon. Values of the relevant physicochemical parameters may range over several orders of magnitude within any given process, and the availability of reliable data over the ranges of interest is in general significantly less good than would be needed for reliable analysis.