Estimation of the Polymerization Rate of Liquid Propylene Using Adiabatic Reaction Calorimetry and Reaction Dilatometry

The use of pressure-drop and constant-pressure dilatometry for obtaining rate data for liquid propylene polymerization in filled batch reactors was examined. The first method uses reaction temperature and pressure as well as the compressibility of the reactor contents to calculate the polymerization rate; in the second, the polymerization rate is calculated from the monomer feed rate to the reactor. Estimated polymerization rates compare well to those obtained using the well-developed isoperibolic calorimetry technique, besides pressure-drop dilatometry provides more kinetic information during the initial stages of the polymerization than the other methods.