Influence of number of catalytic sites in 1,3-butadiene solution
polymerizations catalysed by titanium tetrachloride
Abstract
The synthetic rubber industry is of great importance and it is present
in the daily life of world society. BR (butadiene rubber or
polybutadiene) is one of the most used polymers in this field, mainly in
tire production. Therefore, the control of operational conditions and
final properties of the polymer formed are important points to be
studied as they are a challenge for the industry. Thus, the present work
focus in simulate the batch polymerization of polybutadiene using the
Aspen Plus software, where 1,3-butadiene, titanium tetrachloride,
triethylaluminium and hexane were used as monomer, catalyst, co-catalyst
and solvent, respectively. Four cases were simulated changing the number
of catalyst sites in order to predict and compare the final properties
of polybutadiene resins including the average molecular weights, the
molecular weight distribution and the evolution of operation conditions
that are used at plant to monitor the course of the reaction like the
reaction temperature and pressure.