A Novel Continuous Multiphase Reactor For Chemically Processing Polymer Fibers
Eric John Hukkanen, Bryan Barton, Jasson Patton, David Schlader, Yiqun Zhang, Xiaohua Qiu, Lora Brehm, Bryan Haskins, Weijun Wang, Nicholas Horstman, Mark Spalding, Daniel A Hickman, Christopher W Derstine
Chemical reactions on the surface or throughout a thermoplastic fiber present an interesting and challenging reaction engineering problem. This paper presents the design and implementation of a modular multiphase continuous stirred tank reactor for the sulfonation of polyethylene fibers. Polyethylene fiber tows, comprising of 1000-6000 filaments, are sulfonated in a series of stirred tank reactors. Fundamental reaction engineering principles are applied to address common batch-to-continuous reactor challenges, such as heat and mass transfer, material balances, and reaction kinetics. The introduction of polymer fibers to a continuous process also requires the solution of practical problems associated with fiber processing. Additional considerations are introduced for designing a reactor system for continuous processing of fiber using liquid with a batch reactor or CSTR contacting pattern in each vessel and containing the effluent gaseous reaction byproducts in a controlled vent stream. The overall sulfonation reaction stoichiometry was determined such that ~1 mol of SO3 reacts per mol CH2 fed. Additionally, carbon sulfonation selectivity was determined to be 95-99%, depending on the sulfonation conditions.