KR102814257B1 - Polymerization reaction system - Google Patents

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention provides a polymerization reaction system, comprising: a raw material supply unit for supplying a liquid raw material including a monomer; a first reactor including a vessel for receiving the raw material through the raw material supply unit to form a first polymer product by mixing; and a second reactor including a tubular member for static mixing connected in series with the vessel to pass the first polymer product supplied from the first reactor through the first reactor to form a second polymer product; wherein, in the second reactor, an inlet for introducing the first polymer product is positioned higher than an outlet for discharging the second polymer product.

Description

POLYMERIZATION REACTION SYSTEM

The present invention relates to a polymerization reaction system, and more specifically, to a polymerization reaction system which performs primary polymerization through stirring of a liquid raw material, and passes the primary polymer product through a tubular member for static mixing to form and discharge a secondary polymer product.

When polymerizing a polymer continuously, a continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR) and a static mixer are often used together.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a conventional polymerization reaction system.

Liquid raw materials including monomers and solvents are continuously supplied into the CSTR reactor (1), and can be primarily polymerized into a polymer while being mixed by stirring inside the CSTR reactor (1). Here, the degree of polymerization can be approximately 70%, and therefore, the primary polymer product polymerized through the CSTR reactor (1) exists in a polymer solution state.

The primary polymerization product polymerized inside the CSTR reactor (1) is introduced into a static mixer (3).

A static mixer (3) comprises a plurality of tubular members (4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, 4e) having wing sections that are twisted in a stationary state inside, arranged in a zigzag manner, and a connecting tubular member (5) that connects the ends of the tubular members (4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, 4e) arranged close to the same side on the left and right with respect to the center may be provided.

The inlet (3a) of the static mixer may be one end of the lowest tubular member (4a), and the outlet (3b) may be one end of the highest tubular member (4e).

In order to move the primary polymerization product polymerized inside the CSTR reactor (1) against gravity by injecting it into the inlet portion (3a), which is one end of the lowermost tubular member (4a) of the static mixer (3), and toward the discharge portion (3b), which is one end of the uppermost tubular member (4e) of the static mixer (3), it is necessary to pump it by applying a considerable amount of pressure.

Accordingly, a gear pump (6), a valve (not shown), etc. are provided between the CSTR reactor (1) and the static mixer (3), and a pipe (7) can be arranged with the gear pump (6) in between.

There may be mechanical gaps, etc., in the connecting parts connecting each of the gear pump (6), valve (not shown), pipe (7), etc., which may become gel formation points. After the valve, etc. is used, it must be completely washed so that no residue of polymer remains, etc., to prevent gel formation. However, there is an aspect that it is difficult to completely wash it.

Meanwhile, when the operation of the polymerization reaction system is shut down, the polymer solution remaining inside the static mixer (3) needs to be discharged. However, since the polymer solution inside the static mixer (3) moves against gravity from the bottom to the top, it is necessary to discharge the polymer solution during shutdown, and for this purpose, a separate drain line, valve, and other accessories need to be provided. The more such accessories are required, the lower the efficiency in terms of cost and/or management.

The background technology described above is technical information that the inventor possessed for deriving the embodiments of the present invention or acquired in the process of deriving the embodiments of the present invention, and cannot necessarily be said to be publicly known technology disclosed to the general public prior to the application of the embodiments of the present invention.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and provides a polymerization reaction system which connects a first reactor for performing a first polymerization of a liquid raw material through stirring, and a second reactor for forming a second polymer by passing the first polymer through a tubular member for static mixing and discharging the second polymer, with a minimum number of accessories, while naturally inducing the flow of the polymer discharged from the first reactor.

However, the problems to be solved by the present invention are not limited to the problems mentioned above, and other problems not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description below.

One embodiment of the present invention provides a polymerization reaction system, comprising: a raw material supply unit for supplying a liquid raw material including a monomer; a first reactor including a vessel for receiving the raw material through the raw material supply unit to form a first polymer product by mixing; and a second reactor including a tubular member for static mixing connected in series with the vessel to pass the first polymer product supplied from the first reactor through the first reactor to form a second polymer product; wherein, in the second reactor, an inlet for introducing the first polymer product is positioned lower than an outlet for discharging the second polymer product.

In the present embodiment, the second reactor may include a plurality of tubular members for static mixing arranged in a zigzag manner, and may include a curved tubular member so that the ends of two adjacent tubular members for static mixing can be connected.

In the present embodiment, the curved tubular member may be flexible so that the radius of curvature of the outer edge can be adjusted.

In this embodiment, the flow rate of the polymer inside the second reactor can be controlled by controlling the internal pressure of the vessel and the opening and closing of the valve between the vessel and the second reactor.

A polymerization reaction system according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises a first reactor for performing a first polymerization of a liquid raw material through stirring, and a second reactor for forming a second polymer by passing the first polymer through a tubular member for static mixing and discharging the second polymer, connected with a minimum number of accessories, but capable of naturally inducing the flow of the polymer discharged from the first reactor.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a conventional polymerization reaction system.
Figure 2 is a schematic drawing showing a polymerization reaction system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention will become clearer with reference to the embodiments described below in detail together with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, but may be implemented in various different forms, and these embodiments are provided only to make the disclosure of the present invention complete and to fully inform those skilled in the art of the scope of the invention, and the present invention is defined only by the scope of the claims. Meanwhile, the terminology used in this specification is for the purpose of describing the embodiments and is not intended to limit the present invention. In this specification, the singular also includes the plural unless specifically stated in the phrase. The terms "comprises" and/or "comprising" as used in the specification do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other components, steps, operations, and/or elements mentioned. The terms first, second, etc. may be used to describe various components, but the components should not be limited by the terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another.

Figure 2 is a schematic drawing of a polymerization reaction system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, a polymerization reaction system (100) according to one embodiment of the present invention relates to a system that polymerizes a liquid raw material including a monomer and a solvent to form a polymer, and may include a raw material supply unit (10), a first reactor (20), and a second reactor (30).

The monomer may be, for example, acrylonitrile, and the polymer may be, for example, polyacrylonitrile, but the monomer and the polymer are not limited thereto, and any polymer capable of forming a high molecular weight polymer having a sufficiently high viscosity after polymerization is sufficient.

The raw material supply unit (10) is located above the first reactor (20) and can supply liquid raw materials to the first reactor (20).

The first reactor (20) includes a vessel (21) that receives liquid raw materials through a raw material supply unit (10) and can form a primary polymer through mixing and reaction. The vessel (21) can include a rotatable stirring blade (22) to induce mixing and polymerization of the liquid raw materials. The first reactor (20) polymerizes a liquid raw material having low viscosity to form a polymer having high viscosity, and the polymerization degree can be about 70%. That is, the primary polymer can exist in a polymer solution state.

The second reactor (30) can form a secondary polymer by passing the primary polymer supplied from the first reactor (20) through a static mixing tubular member (31a, 31b, 31c, 31d, 31e) connected in series with the vessel (21). A non-rotating static vane is arranged inside the static mixing tubular member (31a, 31b, 31c, 31d, 31e) to induce more active mixing and polymerization of the polymer solution.

Since the second reactor (30) further polymerizes the first polymer in a polymer solution state to form a second polymer, the polymerization degree of the second polymer is higher than that of the first polymer, and can be, for example, around 95%.

The second reactor (30) may have an inlet (32) through which the first polymer is introduced located higher than the outlet (33) through which the second polymer is discharged.

The second reactor (30) is connected in series with the first reactor (20) and the inlet (32) is positioned higher than the outlet (33), so that the polymer moves from the first reactor (20) to the second reactor (30) by gravity and also the polymer can flow naturally by gravity inside the second reactor (30).

The second reactor (30) may include a plurality of static mixing tubular members (31a, 31b, 31c, 31d, 31e) arranged in a zigzag manner and inclined downward, and may include a curved tubular member (34) so that the ends of two adjacent static mixing tubular members can be connected.

It is preferable that the curved tubular member (34) be flexible so that the radius of curvature of the outer edge can be adjusted. When the radius of curvature of the outer edge of the curved tubular member (34) is adjusted, the inclination of the tubular member (31a, 31b, 31c, 31d, 31e) for static mixing with respect to the ground can be adjusted, thereby making it possible to control the flow of the polymer solution considering the viscosity characteristics of the polymer solution.

The polymerization reaction system (100) according to an embodiment of the present invention can control the flow rate of polymer inside the second reactor (30) by controlling the opening and closing of a valve (not shown) between the vessel (21) and the second reactor (30). Through this, the flow rate of polymer discharged from the second reactor (30) can be controlled to a constant level.

A polymerization reaction system (100) according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises a first reactor (20) that performs primary polymerization through stirring of a liquid raw material, and a second reactor (30) that passes the primary polymer through a static mixing tubular member (31a, 31b, 31c, 31d, 31e) to form and discharge a secondary polymer, and is connected with a minimum number of accessories, but the polymer discharged from the first reactor (20) can be naturally induced to flow naturally within the second reactor (30).

That is, in a conventional polymerization reaction system, a pump is used to artificially induce the flow of a polymer from the bottom to the top within a secondary reactor, whereas in a polymerization reaction system according to an embodiment of the present invention, the pressure of the first reactor (20) and/or the degree of opening and closing of a valve provided between the first reactor (20) and the second reactor (30) can be controlled to naturally induce the flow of a polymer from the top to the bottom within the second reactor (30) without a pump, which has the advantage of being possible.

In this way, since the polymerization reaction system (100) according to the embodiment of the present invention can omit the pump provided between the first reactor and the second reactor in a conventional polymerization reaction system, the purchase cost and driving energy of the pump can be reduced, and the number of valves for maintenance of the pump can also be reduced, so there is an advantage in that the possibility of gel formation caused by its existence can be suppressed.

In addition, in the polymerization reaction system (100) according to the embodiment of the present invention, since the flow of polymer within the second reactor (30) is naturally induced from the top to the bottom, even when the operation of the polymerization reaction system (100) must be stopped, the polymer within the second reactor (30) naturally moves from the top to the bottom and is naturally discharged, so that a drain line, etc., which were required for discharging the polymer in a conventional polymerization reaction system, can be omitted, and gel formation caused by the existence of the drain line can also be suppressed, and there is an advantage in that the maintenance of the second reactor (30) is also simplified.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments mentioned above, it is possible to make various modifications and variations without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the appended claims will include such modifications and variations as long as they fall within the spirit of the present invention.

100 : Polymerization reaction system
10: Raw material supply unit
20: Reactor 1
21 : Vessel
22: Stirring Wing
30: Second reactor
31a, 31b, 31c, 31d, 31e: Tubular members for static mixing
32 : Input port
33 : exhaust port
34: Curved tubular member

Claims (4)

A raw material supply unit for supplying a liquid raw material containing a monomer;
A first reactor for forming a primary polymer by mixing and reacting, including a vessel that receives raw materials through the above raw material supply unit; and
A second reactor including a tubular member for static mixing connected in series with the vessel to form a second polymer by passing the first polymer supplied from the first reactor;
The second reactor has an inlet for introducing the first polymer material located higher than an outlet for discharging the second polymer material, and includes a plurality of static mixing tubular members arranged in a zigzag downward direction, and includes a curved tubular member so that the ends of two adjacent static mixing tubular members can be connected.
The above-mentioned curved tubular member is flexible so that the radius of curvature of the outer edge can be adjusted, so that the inclination of the above-mentioned static mixing tubular member with respect to the ground can be adjusted.
A polymerization reaction system including a system in which the opening and closing degree of a valve provided between the first reactor and the second reactor is controlled so as to naturally induce the flow of a polymer from the upper part to the lower part of the second reactor without a pump.
delete delete In the first paragraph,
A polymerization reaction system that controls the flow rate of polymer inside the second reactor by controlling the internal pressure of the vessel.