Scalable Miniemulsion Polymerization of Methyl Methacrylate (MMA) in Continuous Flow

A scalable methodology to perform miniemulsion polymerizations is demonstrated for the polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA). Scalability of the miniemulsification was achieved by using a spinning disk reactor, which provides the required energy input to form a metastable emulsion, yielding miniemulsion droplets with an average size of 154 nm and a PDI of 0.17. Polymerization proceeds likewise in a scalable fashion, achieved by using agitated continuous flow reactors, which effectively prevent reactor fouling, a problem that typically limits emulsion polymerization in continuous flow. For the MMA miniemulsion process, synthesis of over 100g of polymer particles with well-defined particle distributions (the average polymer particle size, obtained after polymerization in the ATR reactor following emulsification using the SDR, was 170 nm with a PDI of 0.10) has been achieved, and operation of the designed reactor setup is stable over an entire workday. The space-time yield of the miniemulsion was found to be 53 g/Lh, significantly outperforming previous methods of miniemulsion polymerization.