|
|
News
|
July 02, 2010
April 27, 2010
January 05, 2009
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| LCPP-CNRS/ESCPE | |
Bât. F308, B.P. 2077
43 Bd du 11 Nov. 1918
69616 Villeurbanne cedex
FRANCE |
|
| Laboratoire de Chimie et Procédés de Polymérisation | |
 |
Prof. Timothy F.L. MCKENNA |
| Polymer Reaction Engineering - PRE |
|
| | Group Members | Publications | External Partners | Patents |
 Area(s) of Research
 | | Research in the PRE group covers both of the principal areas of activity of the LCPP : free radical polymerisation in aqueous medium (emulsion, minie mulsion and suspension polymerisation) ; and olefin polymerisation on supported catalysts. |
Degrees
| | • Bachelor of Engineering, Chemical Engineering, McMaster University, Canada (1985)
• Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, University of Massachusetts at Amherst (1989). |
Research Interests
| | Research in the PRE group covers both of the principal areas of activity of the LCPP : free radical polymerisation in aqueous medium (emulsion, miniemulsion and suspension polymerisation) ; and olefin polymerisation on supported catalysts. The underlying principle is to apply chemical engineering tools to better understand the chemistry of polymerisation, and in particular to be able to improve upon existing processes, or develop new, innovative means of producing polymers. Reaction engineering is in itself a pluridisciplinary subject, especially if one considers that the job of the engineer is to facilitate the transition between the chemistry developed in the laboratory and the final polymer that comes out of a real production facility, and to ensure that the properties of that product are well controlled! This means that we are necessarily interested in a range of activities.
• Free Radical Polymerisation
In a general sense, research activities in this area are focused on the mastery of the particle size and particle size distribution of emulsions and miniemulsions. This implies that we need to study particle nucleation and growth, as well as the reaction kinetics. The tools used for this type of research include sensors such as calorimetry and conductivity, as well as models such as population balance equations.
Over the course of the past few years we have developed: fundamental understanding of how to manipulate the PSD of multimodal latices; tools for producing high solid content latices (>75% v/v) with controlled viscosity; models for the viscosity of mono- and bimodal latices; tubular reactors for moderate to high solid content latices made via conventional emulsion and miniemulsion polymerisations; technology for miniemulsification; an understanding of the phenomenon of compartmentalisation in miniemulsions; calorimetric and conductimetric sensors; and methods for measuring monomer partitioning just to name a few.
• Olefin Polymerisation
The second major research area treated in this group is the application of chemical engineering tools to the understanding of olefin polymerisation. The centralising theme in this area is the understanding and prediction of the role of polymer particle morphology in heat and mass transfer, and particle growth.
Some current topics include: the study of nascent polymerisation at very short times using gas and slurry phase stopped flow reactors; the role of support morphology in determining the activity of metallocene catalysts; improvement of the rubber content of high impact polypropylenes; study of heat transfer in gas phase reactors using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD); the existence of convective gradients inside growing particles during gas phase polymerisation; and the study of the role of material properties in the accumulation and release of stress during particle fragmentation. |
Current Projects
| | • High Solid Content Latices and Control of the PSD.
• Generation of miniemulsions.
• Modelling of Emulsion Polymerisations.
• Sensors for Polymerisation Reactors.
• High Impact Polypropylenes.
• Stopped Flow Reactors and Nascent Polymerisation.
• Heat and Mass Transfer in Olefin Polymerisation. |
|
|
|
|
