High-Solid-Content Emulsions of PVC: Scale-Down of an Industrial Process for Enhanced Understanding of Particle Formation Part 2: Preliminary Analysis of Seed Production

A scale-down study of an industrial reactor for the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) via an emulsion polymerization process was performed in order to understand the source of batch-to-batch variations in product quality. In Part 2 of this series of three papers, it is demonstrated that a large excess of base is required to control the particle size distribution of the seed process. Although differences exist between the critical micelle concentration and the surface area occupied by a surfactant molecule for linear and branched isomers of the surfactant sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate, the characteristics of the molecules from different suppliers were reasonably similar.