Influence of reaction temperature on the generation of gels during EVA production in tubular reactor

Abstract

ABSTRACT
The fouling formation in the EVA production leads to an increase in the residence time of the material. This
result is a favorable condition to generation of the crosslinks during the polymerization. The crosslinking
allows raising the molar mass of the polymer, which after the polymerization reaction are characterized as
gels, thus generating problems in the product quality during production due to contamination of the resin.
This paper describes the fouling process in the reactor, the defouling mechanism, the crosslinking, the scission
of chain and presents a study on the influence of the reaction temperature in relation to the formation of
gels by quantitative analysis by Optical Controller System - OCS. The average temperature rise of the reaction
at 10 ºC, helped to reduce the generation of gels due to the viscosity reduction over the reactor, which
reduces the polymer residence time in the walls of the tube and consequently the formation of fouling.
Keywords: Crosslinking, fouling, tubular reactor, EVA, OCS.