Optimal parameter estimation for methyl methacrylate polymerization

Abstract

Several different sets of correlations have been proposed for methyl methacrylate polymerization for the three parameters, θ_p, θ_t and A, characterizing the gel and glass effects in the model of Chiu et al. It is found that these correlations do not explain isothermal batch reactor data particularly well. An optimal parameter estimation technique has been used to obtain new correlations, and it is found that the agreement between calculation and experiment improves significantly. The technique is quite general, and as a further illustration it has been used to develop correlations for the gel and glass effects for polystyrene, at temperatures which are sufficiently low that thermal initiation is absent.