Polymer Production Processes Research Articles

Enhancing Polymer Sustainability: Eco-Conscious Strategies.

Polymer sustainability is a pressing concern in today's world driven by the increasing demand for environmentally friendly materials. This review paper provides a comprehensive overview of eco-friendly approaches towards enhancing the sustainability of polymers. It synthesized recent research and developments in various areas such as green polymer synthesis methods, biodegradable polymers, recycling technologies, and emerging sustainable alternatives. The environmental impact of traditional polymer production processes and the importance of adopting greener alternatives were critically examined. The review delved into the advancements in polymer recycling technologies like mechanical, chemical, and biological processes aimed at minimizing plastic waste and promoting a circular economy. The innovative approaches such as upcycling, hybrid methods etc., which offer promising solutions for addressing plastic pollution and achieving long-term sustainability goals were also analyzed. Finally, the paper discussed the challenges and future prospects of eco-friendly approaches for polymer sustainability, emphasizing the need for researchers and concerted efforts from scientists across industries and academia to drive meaningful change towards a more sustainable future.

Development of a Measurement System Using Infrared Spectroscopy-Attenuated Total Reflectance, Principal Component Analysis and Artificial Intelligence for the Safe Quantification of the Nucleating Agent Sorbitol in Food Packaging.

Sorbitol derivatives and other additives are commonly used in various products, such as packaging or food packaging, to improve their mechanical, physical, and optical properties. To accurately and precisely evaluate the efficacy of adding sorbitol-type nucleating agents to these articles, their quantitative determination is essential. This study systematically investigated the quantification of sorbitol-type nucleating agents in food packaging made from impact copolymers of polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) using attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) together with analysis of principal components (PCA) and machine learning algorithms. The absorption spectra revealed characteristic bands corresponding to the C-O-C bond and hydroxyl groups attached to the cyclohexane ring of the molecular structure of sorbitol, providing crucial information for identifying and quantifying sorbitol derivatives. PCA analysis showed that with the selected FTIR spectrum range and only the first two components, 99.5% of the variance could be explained. The resulting score plot showed a clear pattern distinguishing different concentrations of the nucleating agent, affirming the predictability of concentrations based on an impact copolymer. The study then employed machine learning algorithms (NN, SVR) to establish prediction models, evaluating their quality using metrics such as RMSE, R2, and RMSECV. Hyperparameter optimization was performed, and SVR showed superior performance, achieving near-perfect predictions (R2 = 0.9999) with an RMSE of 0.100 for both calibration and prediction. The chosen SVR model features two hidden layers with 15 neurons each and uses the Adam algorithm, balanced precision, and computational efficiency. The innovative ATR-FTIR coupled SVR model presented a novel and rapid approach to accurately quantify sorbitol-type nucleating agents in polymer production processes for polymer research and in the analysis of nucleating agent derivatives. The analytical performance of this method surpassed traditional methods (PCR, NN).

Evaluating the Efficiency of the Tube Turbulent Apparatus Influence on Kinetics of Polymer Production Processes

Introduction. Because of high demand for polymer products, there are constantly modernized the technological aspects of their production, a huge share of which is based on the use of microheterogeneous catalytic systems. Physicochemical properties of polymer products can be improved through targeted hydrodynamic effect in turbulent flows. The study of physicochemical patterns of polymer product synthesis in the presence of modified catalytic systems is of great interest. Aim of the Article. The article is aimed at evaluating the efficiency of hydrodynamic influence in turbulent flows on the type of catalyst heterogeneity and the kinetics of polymer production processes. Materials and Methods. In the study of polymer synthesis processes, there is used a simulation approach to the system model description that is based on the idea of reproducing various scenarios of uninterrupted production and conducting the necessary empirical analysis. Parallel programming and cloud computing technologies are used in simulation modeling to increase computational speed. Results. A methodology for solving inverse problems has been developed to determine the influence of external factors on the kinetic activity and heterogeneity of active centers on the basis of known physicochemical information. The use of simulation modeling with the application of cloud computing technology makes it possible to unambiguously determine the type of kinetic heterogeneity in the conditions of averaging the reactive capacity of active centers. Discussion and Conclusion. Approbation of the new simulation approach to the solution of the inverse problem allowed evaluating the efficiency of the influence of the tube turbulent apparatus on the kinetics of producing polyisoprene in the presence of titanium catalyst and identifying the presence of two active centers: type ATi − lnM = 13.4, type BTi − lnM = 11.7, while the proportion of active centers type ATi is 0.91; type BTi – 0.09. Based on the data obtained, it becomes possible to formulate and solve inverse problems of identifying kinetic parameters for further model description of the system.

A New Route of Valorization of Petrochemical Wastewater: Recovery of 1,3,5-Tris (4-tert-butyl-3-hydroxy-2,6-dimethyl benzyl)-1,3,5-triazine-2,4,6-(1H,3H,5H)-trione (Cyanox 1790) and Its Subsequent Application in a PP Matrix to Improve Its Thermal Stability.

The various chemicals in industrial wastewater can be beneficial for improving its circularity. If extraction methods are used to capture valuable components from the wastewater and then recirculate them throughout the process, the potential of the wastewater can be fully exploited. In this study, wastewater produced after the polypropylene deodorization process was evaluated. These waters remove the remains of the additives used to create the resin. With this recovery, contamination of the water bodies is avoided, and the polymer production process becomes more circular. The phenolic component was recovered by solid-phase extraction and HPLC, with a recovery rate of over 95%. FTIR and DSC were used to evaluate the purity of the extracted compound. After the phenolic compound was applied to the resin and its thermal stability was analyzed via TGA, the compound's efficacy was finally determined. The results showed that the recovered additive improves the thermal qualities of the material.

A combined experimental and molecular simulation study on stress generation phenomena during the Ziegler-Natta polyethylene catalyst fragmentation process.

The morphology of particles obtained under different pre-polymerization conditions has been connected to the stress generation mechanism at the polymer/catalyst interface. A combination of experimental characterization techniques and atomistic molecular dynamics simulations allowed a systematic investigation of experimental conditions leading to a certain particle morphology, and hence to a final polymer with specific features. Atomistic models of nascent polymer phases in contact with magnesium dichloride surfaces have been developed and validated. Using these detailed models, in the framework of McKenna's hypothesis, the pressure increase due to the polymerization reaction has been calculated under different conditions and is in good agreement with experimental scenarios. This molecular scale knowledge and the proposed investigation strategy would allow the pre-polymerization conditions to be better defined and the properties of the nascent polymer to be tuned, ensuring proper operability along the whole polymer production process.

Developing Methods and Algorithms for Cloud Computing Management Systems in Industrial Polymer Synthesis Processes

To date, the resources and computational capacity of companies have been insufficient to evaluate the technological properties of emerging products based on mathematical modelling tools. Often, several calculations have to be performed with different initial data. A remote computing system using a high-performance cluster can overcome this challenge. This study aims to develop unified methods and algorithms for a remote computing management system for modelling polymer synthesis processes at a continuous production scale. The mathematical description of the problem-solving algorithms is based on a kinetic approach to process investigation. A conceptual scheme for the proposed service can be built as a multi-level architecture with distributed layers for data storage and computation. This approach provides the basis for a unified database of laboratory and computational experiments to address and solve promising problems in the use of neural network technologies in chemical kinetics. The methods and algorithms embedded in the system eliminate the need for model description. The operation of the system was tested by simulating the simultaneous statement and computation of 15 to 30 tasks for an industrially significant polymer production process. Analysis of the time required showed a nearly 10-fold increase in the rate of operation when managing a set of similar tasks. The analysis shows that the described formulation and solution of problems is more time-efficient and provides better production modes. Doi: 10.28991/esj-2021-01324 Full Text: PDF

Simultaneous biosynthesis of bacterial polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS): Process optimization and Scale-up

Owing to their biodegradability and renewability, biopolymers are being employed in industrial and bio-medical sectors as sustainable alternatives to chemical based polymers. In the present study, isolated Providencia sp. depicted dual production of intra and extracellular biopolymers, polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), respectively. The polymer production process was optimised by varying process parameters such as carbon load (20, 30 and 40 g L-1) and pH (6, 7 and 8) for enhancing PHB and EPS productivity. Maximum yield of both PHB (2.62 g L-1) and EPS (3.92 g L-1) was observed with carbon load of 30 g L-1 at pH 7. Scale-up studies were performed with optimized conditions and PHB and EPS production of 2.62 g L-1 and 3.91 g L-1, respectively was observed. The extracted EPS and PHB were characterized using FT-IR, FE-SEM-EDX, H1 and C13 NMR and fluorescence microscopy.

Phase behaviour and thermodynamic modelling of the ternary system (carbon dioxide + ε-caprolactone + chloroform)

The poly(ε-caprolactone) is an aliphatic polyester which has received a growing interest due its properties. Furthermore, the use of supercritical carbon dioxide is a major advance for the establishment of green polymer production processes. This advance is achieved by reducing the amount of toxic components and by the promoted separation of these components from the final product. The aim of this work was to study the high pressure phase behaviour for the ternary system involving carbon dioxide, ε-caprolactone, and chloroform, gathering crucial information to conduct polymerization reactions in supercritical medium. The experiments were executed at temperatures from (323 to 353) K, pressures from (4.68 to 21.85) MPa, and mass ratios of chloroform to ε-caprolactone of 0.5:1, 1:1 and 2:1. Phase transitions of vapour-liquid bubble point (VLE-BP), and dew point (VLE-DP) type were observed. Moreover, the experimental results were modelled using the Peng-Robinson (PR) equation of state with the Wong-Sandler (PR-WS).

Superstructure Reaction Network Design for the Synthesis of Biobased Sustainable Nitrogen-Containing Polymers

Biomass-derived polymer production processes have been extensively studied to substitute petrochemical-based polymer synthesis routes. However, previous research predominantly focused on the synthesis of nitrogen-free polymers. Therefore, a novel superstructure reaction network was constructed in this study to convert different types of biomass waste into a range of commercial nitrogen-containing polymers. Trade-offs between process profit and greenness were analyzed to screen the large size of bioderived reaction pathways. Both mixed-integer programming and multiobjective optimization were formulated to effectively identify the best polymer candidates and their associated optimal synthesis route. Several commercial nitrogen-containing polymers including urea-formaldehyde and Nylon 1,6 were found to be promising candidates for future bioproduction. Moreover, the stability of current optimization results with respect to the availability of external nitrogen and hydrogen sources was also thoroughly analyzed. The results of this study can be used to guide the development of future renewable polymer production processes.

System Identification and Control of a Polymer Reactor

In a polymer production process, a special reactor is used to adjust the viscosity, i.e., chain length of the polymer. This reactor has several control variables mainly in manually control. For future automatic control concepts, such a reactor is modeled from data with a linear (regularized FIR) and a nonlinear state space model (LMSSN). A model predictive control approach is presented in simulation.

Experimental evaluation of fatigue resistance of asphalt mixtures containing waste elastomeric polymers

This study concerning the asphalt mixture fatigue life, affected by the addition of waste elastomeric polymers obtained from polymer production process. Since the use of polymers is economically costly, and also there are some by-products in polymer production process, considering recycled polymers and waste of polymers is important in terms of environmental clean-up. Investigation of fatigue characteristics of HMA mixtures containing waste of elastomeric polymers and their comparison with unmodified mixtures are the main objectives of this research. In addition, different fatigue analysis approaches were evaluated in order to figure out the most precise results. Fatigue resistance of hot-mix asphalt (HMA) modified by elastomeric polymers such as SBR and PBR and the waste of their production process, was studied by performing four-point bending (4 PB) test and indirect tensile fatigue test (ITFT) based on conventional and energy approaches. As far as the technical aspects are concerned, the traditional method based on 50% reduction in initial stiffness is not suitable enough to be employed for calculating fatigue life, because this method underestimates the fatigue life of polymer modified mixtures and leads to high variations among the responses. Therefore, two alternative fatigue analyses were conducted: The Ratio of Dissipated Energy Change method and the Energy Ratio method. Both these methods provided a more detailed comparison between the fatigue life of these mixtures. As the results shows, fatigue life of mixes modified by the waste of polymers, is significantly higher than unmodified mixes and considerably close to mixes including ‌‌original polymers.

Polymeric feedstock from post-consumer and post-industrial plastic wastes for automotive interior applications

In this study, an economically-viable methodology is discussed where a blend of post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastics and post-industrial scrap (PIS) polymers is refined and used as the feedstock for manufacturing of interior structural products for automotive industry. A comprehensive thermo-mechanical characterisation suggest that feedstock obtained using a melt-filtering based refining process, offers performance on par with the virgin materials with reduced cost and environmental impact. Using both lab-scale prototyping and pilot plant trials, interior trim parts have successfully been produced to demonstrate the viability of using this new feedstock in mainstream polymer production processes such as injection moulding and thermoforming for automotive applications.

Molecularly Imprinted Polymers.

Molecularly imprinted polymers are synthetic receptors for a targeted molecule. As such, they are analogues of the natural antibody-antigen systems. In this review, after a recounting of the early history of the general field, we specifically focus on the application of these polymers as sensors. In these applications, the polymers are paired with a reporting system, which may be electrical, electrochemical, optical, or gravimetric. The presence of the targeted molecule effects a change in the reporting agent, and a calibrated quantity of the target is recorded. In this review, we describe the imprinted polymer production processes, the techniques used for reporting, and the applications of the reported sensors. A brief survey of recent applications to gas-phase sensing is included, but the focus is primarily on the development of sensors for targets in solution. Included among the applications are those designed to detect toxic chemicals, toxins in foods, drugs, explosives, and pathogens. The application of computational chemistry to the development of new imprinted polymers is included as is a brief assessment of future developments.

Life cycle assessments for biomass derived sustainable biopolymer & energy co-generation

Sustainable polymers derived from biomass have been considered as promising candidates to reduce the dependency on fossil based polymers. In this study, a conceptual process design was conducted for citrus waste derived biopolymer production with energy co-generation, and its eco-friendliness was evaluated through life cycle assessment by comparison against a petroleum derived polymer production process. Based on the current research, two original conclusions were proposed. The first one is that energy-efficient separation techniques are of critical importance for the design of eco-friendly chemical processes. Only focusing on the use of sustainable feedstocks with high conversion reactions cannot guarantee an environmentally-friendly final product. The second one is that biomass should be considered not only as a raw material, but more importantly, as an energy source for the sustainable synthesis of biochemicals. In other words, a sustainable process should be designed such that a portion of biomass is used to provide clean energy for process operation, with the rest converted for product generation.

Optimization of Energy Consumption in Gas-Phase Polymerization Process for Linear Low Density Polyethylene Production

Gas-phase polymerization is a method that is widely used in the polymer production process. The heterogeneous reaction between monomer gas and solid catalyst takes place in the fluidized bed reactor to produce the polymer product. The design and production planning of this process is a difficult task due to the complicated fluid behavior and polymerization reaction inside the fluidized bed reactor. In this paper, a model of the fluidized bed polymerization reactor for linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) production is developed using the Aspen Custom Modeler (ACM) to predict the polymer characteristics and flow behavior. The developed model is then integrated to the main process flow simulation in order to optimize the energy consumption in the polymer production process. The results show that the total energy requirement is reduced while maintaining the same polymer characteristics.

Batch to Conti Transfer of Polymer Production Processes

Batch to Conti Transfer of Polymer Production Processes

C&EN Webinars - Titration and near-infared spectroscopy in perfect synergy - effectively monitor your polymer production process

RETURN TO ISSUEPREVAdvertisementNEXTC&EN Webinars - Titration and near-infared spectroscopy in perfect synergy - effectively monitor your polymer production processCite this: Chem. Eng. News 2014, 92, 37, 6Publication Date (Print):September 15, 2014Publication History Published online31 March 2015Published inissue 15 September 2014https://doi.org/10.1021/cen-09237-ad07Copyright © 2014 Chemical & Engineering NewsArticle Views71Altmetric-Citations-LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InReddit PDF (2 MB) SUBJECTS:Polymers,Spectroscopy,Titration,Toxicological synergy Get e-Alerts

Integration of production scheduling and dynamic optimization for multi-product CSTRs: Generalized Benders decomposition coupled with global mixed-integer fractional programming

Integration of production scheduling and dynamic optimization can improve the overall performance of multi-product CSTRs. However, the integration leads to a mixed-integer dynamic optimization problem, which could be challenging to solve. We propose two efficient methods based on the generalized Bender decomposition framework that take advantage of the special structures of the integrated problem. The first method is applied to a time-slot formulation. The decomposed primal problem is a set of separable dynamic optimization problems and the master problem is a mixed-integer nonlinear fractional program. The master problem is then solved to global optimality by a fractional programming algorithm, ensuring valid Benders cuts. The second decomposition method is applied to a production sequence formulation. Similar to the first method, the second method uses a fractional programming algorithm to solve the master problem. Compared with the simultaneous method, the proposed decomposition methods can reduce the computational time by over two orders of magnitudes for a polymer production process in a CSTR.

Emerging Issues in the Mechanisms of High Pressure Free Radical Ethylene Polymerization: A Review

The need to improve the performance of the high pressure polymer production process, and timely introduction of new and functionalised products even at reduced production cost which is becoming critical to staying in business has given room for overall studies of the ethylene polymerization process. In this review, emerging issues in the high pressure ethylene polymerization process through free radical approach is unveiled and presented. Different views and approaches of several authors on the tasking issues were compiled, analysed and discussed. Future researchable areas were made clear in this study. Further investigations were also made to model kinetically the high pressure ethylene polymerization reaction in tubular reactors only using mass balances and moment analysis. Although not discussed in this paper, the modeling of heterogeneous polymerization reactions such as precipitation polymerization and emulsion polymerization remains a challenge.

How “green” are the green roofs? Lifecycle analysis of green roof materials

Green roofs can be classified as intensive and extensive roofs based on their purpose and characteristics. Green roofs are built with different layers and variable thicknesses depending on the roof type and/or weather conditions. Basic layers, from bottom to top, of green roof systems usually consists of a root barrier, drainage, filter, growing medium, and vegetation layer. There are many environmental and operational benefits of vegetated roofs. New technology enabled the use of low density polyethylene and polypropylene (polymers) materials with reduced weight on green roofs. This paper evaluates the environmental benefits of green roofs by comparing emissions of NO 2, SO 2, O 3 and PM 10 in green roof material manufacturing process, such as polymers, with the green roof’s pollution removal capacity. The analysis demonstrated that green roofs are sustainable products in long-term basis. In general, air pollution due to the polymer production process can be balanced by green roofs in 13–32 years. However, the manufacturing process of low density polyethylene and polypropylene has many other negative impacts to the environment than air pollution. It was evident that the current green roof materials needed to be replaced by more environmentally friendly and sustainable products.