Continuous generation of cross-linked polymer nanoparticles employing an ultrasonic microreactor

Aniket Pradip Udepurkar; Wim Dermaut; Christian Clasen; Simon Kuhn

doi:10.1016/j.ultsonch.2023.106666

Continuous generation of cross-linked polymer nanoparticles employing an ultrasonic microreactor

Ultrason Sonochem. 2023 Dec:101:106666. doi: 10.1016/j.ultsonch.2023.106666. Epub 2023 Oct 30.

Authors

Aniket Pradip Udepurkar¹, Wim Dermaut², Christian Clasen³, Simon Kuhn⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, Process Engineering for Sustainable Systems (ProcESS), KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200F, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
² Materials Technology Center - Chemical Process Development, Agfa-Gevaert NV, Septestraat 27, 2640 Mortsel, Belgium.
³ Department of Chemical Engineering, Soft Matter, Rheology and Technology (SMaRT), KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200J, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
⁴ Department of Chemical Engineering, Process Engineering for Sustainable Systems (ProcESS), KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200F, 3001 Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: simon.kuhn@kuleuven.be.

Abstract

In this article, a new system employing an ultrasonic microreactor coupled with a tubular reactor is presented for the continuous generation of polymer nanoparticles. The continuous generation of cross-linked polymer nanoparticles utilizing the monomer butyl methacrylate and the cross-linker ethylene glycol dimethacrylate is demonstrated. Firstly, the miniemulsion polymerization of a monomer-in-water miniemulsion is studied in a batch system. Secondly, a coiled tubular reactor is employed for the continuous polymerization of the miniemulsion generated by an ultrasonic microreactor. Finally, the influence of monomer volume fraction and surfactant concentration on the synthesized polymer nanoparticles is studied. Polymer particles in a size range of 50-250 nm are synthesized and a high polymerization conversion is achieved utilizing the system demonstrated in this article.

Keywords: Microreactors; Miniemulsion Polymerization; Nanoparticles; Tubular Microreactor; Ultrasound.