A STUDY ON THE REACTOR STABILITY OF MULTITUBULAR REACTORS USED FOR STYRENE POLYMERIZATION

Due to the very strong variation of the viscosity of the reaction mass with increasing monomer conversion, three stationary states for the tubes of a multitubular system with cooling vessel can be found. As a consequence, a maldistribution of the fluid arises, so that the reactor stability and the polymer quality are negatively influenced. The recycling of the reaction mass is a helpful method to increase the reactor stability. In this paper some fundamental aspects of the use of multitubular reactors for the polymerization of styrene are studied.