Effect of Physical Factors during the Preparation of a Reaction Mixture in Turbulent Flows on the Rate of Butadiene Polymerization in the Presence of TiCl4-Al(i-C4H9)3 and Molecular Mass Characteristics of Butadiene Rubber

Abstract

Butadiene polymerization was used as a model of diene polymerization in the presence of micro-heterogeneous Ziegler-Natta polycentric catalytic systems (TiCl4-Al(i-C4H9)3 catalytic system, toluene solvent, temperature 298 K). It was found that an increase in the rate of feeding of the reaction mixture into a tubular turbulent apparatus of diffuser-confuser design, the ratio of diffuser to confuser diameters, and diffuser opening angle led to a local increase in the kinetic energy and dissipation rate of turbulence; as a consequence, the most probable equivalent radius of the catalyst particles and the average molecular mass of the polymer decreased, while the polymerization rate increased. It was also found that a change in the section length to diffuser diameter ratio when the former or latter was constant and a change in the number of sections of the tubular turbulent apparatus from four to eight did not affect the polymerization rate and the molecular mass characteristics of the polymer.