Monitoring stability of reaction and dispersion states in a suspension polymerization reactor using electrical resistance tomography measurements

A system was constructed for visualizing the dispersion states of liquid monomer and polymer droplets in a suspension polymerization reaction in a non-intrusive and continuous manner using electrical resistance tomography measurements. Using this system, a method was established for keeping reaction states stable and the quality of the particles produced good by varying the mixing conditions, such as the rotational speed of the impeller and the injection amount of dispersion reagents, under the principles that the lower the rotational speed of the impeller, the better; and the smaller the injection amount of dispersing agents, the better. It was found that the amount of additional injection significantly affected both the sharpness and the average value of the particle diameter distribution, based on the data of the tomograms.