Device and methods for determination of molecular weight distributions of polymers and distributions of other polymer properties without physical separation

US11940384B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignees

• YOKOGAWA FLUENCE ANALYTICS, INC. · US
• The Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund · US

Inventors

• Wayne Frederick Reed · New Orleans, US
• Rick Montgomery · Newark, US
• Michael Felix Drenski · New Orleans, US
• Aide Wu · Kearny, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Sep 23, 2022
• Grant date: Mar 26, 2024
• Expiry date: Oct 21, 2042

Classification

• Technology area (CPC C): Chemistry; Metallurgy
• CPC primary: C08F2400/02
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

Devices and methods for determining the cumulative distribution of a polymer property in a reactor without physical separation of reaction subcomponents. The device includes a means of measuring an instantaneous property of the polymers being produced in a reaction vessel a plurality of times during a polymerization reaction as well as a means of determining the corresponding change in polymer concentration in the reaction vessel between measurements of the instantaneous polymer property. The device also includes a means of computing a statistical distribution appropriate to the polymer characteristic and applying the statistical distribution to a recently measured instantaneous value of the polymer property so as to have an instantaneous distribution of the polymer property and a means of adding together the instantaneous distributions of the polymer property in order to obtain the cumulative distribution of the polymer property in the reactor.