Numerical simulation of thermal polymerization of styrene in stirred reactor

In order to obtain the real temperature distribution of the polymerization stirred reactor, the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method was used to establish a three-dimensional model of the stirred reactor of thermal polymerization of styrene. Adding the sources of component transport equation and energy equation through the UDF (User Defined Functions), the hot-spot distribution and development process of highly exothermic reaction system were investigated. The effects of the reaction mass viscosity and stirring speed on the velocity and temperature fields of reactor were studied. The results present that the increase of viscosity obstructs the convective heat transfer of reaction mass away from the impeller, which leads to uneven distribution of temperature in the reactor. The increase of the stirring speed makes the temperature distribution more uniform in the reactor. On the other hand, it exacerbates the polymerization and increases the average temperature in the reactor. This research provides a theoretical basis for revealing the evolution mechanism of thermal runaway reaction and preventing it.