Emulsion Polymerizations in a High‐Pressure Semi‐Batch Reactor – Sampling and Effect of Pressure

ABSTRACT A sampling system for sampling from pressurized emulsion polymerizations is developed. It is designed for safe and reproducible sampling from a laboratory scale semi‐batch autoclave reactor. The focus of the sampling system is sampling small volumes of 2–3 mL of representative emulsions at high pressures with proper cleaning in‐between sampling. The quality of the samples is validated experimentally by comparison of samples taken at low pressure with and without sampling system. Validation is performed regarding solid content and particle size. Experimental errors are estimated by repeating the identical experiment three times. Additionally, the functionality of the sampling system is confirmed at pressures up to 190 bar. The collected data for polymerizations at high pressure are evaluated regarding the influence of nitrogen pressure on polymerization course as well as the resulting latexes. However, no significant effect is observed.