ChemTech Innovators R&D Center
The supercritical fluoropolymerization unit comprises of an 4 ft by 3 ft by 7 ft steel enclosure which is caster mounted. The front of the enclosure has operator accessible valves, pressure gauges, heater control, and booster pump control. A computerized data acquisition and control system controls the pressure in the reactor and records the temperature at multiple locations.
Reactor: 300 mL 316 Stainless Steel Agitated Bolt Closure, Autoclave Engineers
Reactor MAWP: 5400 psig at 650°F
Modes of Operation: Batch, semi-batch, continuous
Working Fluid: Supercritical fluids such as carbon dioxide, alkanes, alcohols and binary mixtures thereof. Excludes water and highly corrosive or oxidative environments
Pressure Development: Two booster pumps (pneumatically driven compressor) and micro-metering pump
Control and Acquisition: Electronic heater control, computer based data acquisition, computer based pressure control
Principal Applications: Free radical initiated fluoropolymerization in supercritical carbon dioxide, supercritical polymerization, graft copolymerization, supercritical infusion, supercritical polymer blending and nanocomposite materials.
Sunggyu Lee, PhD 