P2EM.9 - Direct Online Monitoring of E-caprolactone Polymerisation via Dielectric Property Measurement
- Event
- 17th International Meeting on Chemical Sensors - IMCS 2018
2018-07-15 - 2018-07-19
Vienna, Austria - Chapter
- P-2 - Emerging Sensor Technologies
- Author(s)
- A. Kalamiotis, A. Ilchev, D. Irvine, G. Dimitrakis - Microwave Process Engineering Group (MPE), Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Nottingham, Nottingham (United Kingdom)
- Pages
- 763 - 764
- DOI
- 10.5162/IMCS2018/P2EM.9
- ISBN
- 978-3-9816876-9-9
- Price
- free
Abstract
The use of dielectric spectroscopy to monitor the progress of the ring opening polymerisation of Ɛ-caprolactone in real time is demonstrated. A coaxial probe sensor was used to monitor the dielectric properties during the polymerisation progress and samples were extracted at set times for off-line analysis with Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy. It was observed that the dielectric properties can be linearly related with the conversion of monomer to polymer. Furthermore, the analysis of the dielectric data with frequency enabled the identification of the most suitable strategy for the online monitoring of the polymerisation. As a result, the online measurement of the dielectric properties can be used to identify in real time key reaction parameters such as monomer to polymer conversion. This could lead to improved product quality and batch to batch repeatability by identifying the reaction end-point to achieve a target conversion.