Published October 1975
This report is the second supplement to the Process Economics Program Report No. 13, "Polyvinyl Chloride," issued in June 1966. The first supplement, Report 13A, was issued in May 1970. The current report reviews the progress in vinyl chloride homo-polymerization and copolymerization since 1970. The processes for vinyl chloride homopolymer production by suspension, liquid-phase bulk, and emulsion polymerization have been revised and the economics of these processes have been evaluated. In addition, a vapor-phase bulk polymerization process is also included and evaluated.
The revisions incorporate several important new developments, notably the use of larger reactors (particularly in the suspension process), new initiator systems, and an increase in the capacity for a single production line from 25 million lb/yr to 73 million lb/yr. New auxiliaries, such as a solvent cleaning system for scheduled reactor cleaning and a vent gas scrubbing system for vinyl chloride removal from vent gas, are added to the processes. The design capacity of each homo-polymer plant has been increased from 50 million lb/yr to 220 million lb/yr (or 100,000 metric tons/yr).
Also updated are the economics of a suspension process for a vinyl chloride-propylene copolymer and the production costs of the other co- polymers evaluated in Report 13A. The production capacity of 50 million lb/yr copolymer is retained in these updates. The scope of this report further includes reviews on modified PVC resins (e.g., polymer blends and graft polymers) and PVC compounding.
Other PEP Related Reports:
