불균일계 중합법에 의해 제조된 나노입자에 대해서 이해하기 위해서는 콜로이드 (colloid)에 대해서 먼저 언급하고자 한다. 콜로이드는 우리 주변에서 널리 볼 수 있는 것으로, 자연적 또는 합성에 의해 제조된 수 나노에서 수백 마이크로 크기의 작은 입자를 말하는 것으로, 넓은 표면적으로 인해 표면 성질이 소재 자체의 성질보다 우세한 특징을 갖으며, 틴들 (tyndall) 현상, 흡착 (adsorption), 전기영동 (electrophoretic mobility) 등의 특성을 보인다. 그림 1에 우리 주변에서 흔히 볼 수 있는 콜로이드에 대해 나타내었다.

그림 1. 주변에서 볼 수 있는 여러 가지 콜로이드.

콜로이드는 크게 분자형(단백질, PVA 등), 입자형(라텍스, 아이스크림 등), 회합형(미셀-유화제, 샴푸, 리포좀 등)으로 나눌 수 있다. 연속상의 종류 및 콜로이드의 회합구조에 따라서 에어로겔(aerogel), 하이드로겔(hydrogel), 유기겔(organogel), 에어로졸(aerosol), 하이드로졸(hydrosol), 유기졸(organosol) 등 다양한 형태가 있다. 최근 불균일계 중합법은 나노 또는 마이크로의 크기를 가진 반응기로 간주되어 기존의 반응기 시스템에 대한 활용의 폭을 증가시키고 있다.(그림 2) 이러한 나노 반응기(nano-reactor)는 작은 크기에 의해 기인하는 confinement 효과, 넓은 표면적에 의해 반응물 또는 부산물의 빠른 확산, 단위 부피당 많은 수에 의해 기인되는 반응 속도 증대 효과 등 여러 가지 특징을 갖고 있다.

그림 2. 불균일계 중합 반응의 특징 및 나노 반응기의 개념.

에멀젼 중합법 (Emulsion polymerization)

에멀젼 중합은 오랜 역사를 가진 천연 라텍스 (polyisoprene latex from heava brasiliensis, rubber tree)에서 착안하였으며, 다른 불균일계 중합법에 비해 오랜 역사를 가지고 있다. 제 2차 세계 대전 중 일본의 동남아 장악을 계기로 하여 지금까지 많은 발전을 거듭하였다. 초기에 합성 메커니즘을 살펴보면 단량체 액적 (monomer droplet)이 주된 중합 장소로 여겨졌으나, 수많은 실험과 이론연구를 통해 단량체 함유 미셀 (monomer-swollen micelle)이 주된 중합 장소라는 것이 밝혀지게 되었다. 고분자의 형성은 라디칼(free-radical) 중합 메커니즘에 기초를 두고 있으며, 그림 3에 도시하였다.


그림 3. 비닐단량체의 연쇄(라디칼) 중합 기구.

반응에 사용되는 단량체로는 기본적으로 탄소-탄소 이중결합을 갖고, 치환기의 종류에 따라서 styrene, methyl methacrylate, butyl acrylate, acrylic acid, butadiene, vinyl acetate 등 여러 가지가 있다. 라디칼 중합을 위해서는 기본적으로 개시제가 필요하며, 개시제에는 수용성(water-soluble)과 유용성(oil soluble)로 크게 나눌 수 있다. 기능성 기에 따라서는 peroxide, peroxysulphate, azo계열 등 여러 가지가 있으며, 열 개시(thermal initiation), 광개시(photo initiation), 산화 환원(redox, reduction-oxidation) 개시법 등 여러 가지로 나눌 수 있다. 유화 중합에서는 유화제(surfactant, SURFace ACTive AgeNT 또는 emulsifier)를 사용하는 데, 유화제는 양쪽성(amphiphilic)의 성질을 갖는다. 따라서 친수성(hydrophilic) 부분을 통상 머리(head group), 소수성(hydrophobic) 부분을 꼬리(tail)이라 칭하며, 머리와 꼬리의 함유량 및 이온 성질에 따라서 여러 가지로 분류된다. 유화제는 이러한 두 가지 성질을 동시에 가지므로, 서로 상이한 계면(예, 물-기름, 물-공기 등)에 흡착하여 두 상간의 표면 에너지를 낮춘다. 유화 중합에 복잡한 메커니즘에 비해, 유화 중합을 통한 나노입자의 합성은 아주 간단하다. 유화중합을 그림 4에 간단히 도시하였다. 반응기에 물과 유용성 단량체를 섞은 후, 유화제를 넣고 반응 온도에 도달할 때 까지 교반한다. 반응 온도가 유지되면 개시제를 넣은 후 수 시간 기다리면, 반응기 내에 그림과 같이 수십-수백 나노 크기의 고분자 입자가 형성된다. 형성된 고분자 입자는 그림 4에서와 같이, 수천-수십만 개의 고분자 사슬 (macromolecule)이 얽힌 구형체로 되어있다.그림 5에는 유화제를 사용하지 않는 무유화중합법(soap-free emulsion polymerization)을 이용하여 제조된 나노입자의 사진을 나타내었다.

그림 4. 유화 중합 반응을 통한 고분자 콜로이드의 합성.

그림 5. 무유화중합법을 통해 제조된 나노입자의 사진(좌)과 주사전자현미경(SEM) 사진(우, 나노입자를 유리판 위에 배열 후 60도 각도에서 tilting하여 찍은 사진).

입자 형성 메커니즘 (Particle nucleation)

에멀젼 중합법을 통해 제조된 입자의 형성메커니즘은 크게 두 가지로 구분할 수 있다. 유화제의 농도가 임계미셀농 도(critical micelle concentration, CMC)인 경우, 균일핵생성(homogeneous nucleation) 메커니즘이 우세하고, 유화제의 농도가 CMC 이상인 경우 미셀핵생성(micellar nucleation) 메커니즘이 우세하게 된다. 통상 두 가지 메 커니즘이 공존하는 경우가 대부분이며, 특별히 유화제의 농도가 CMC보다 높더라도, 수용해도가 높은 단량체 (vinyl chloride, vinyl acetate 등)의 경우 균일핵생성이 지배적이다. 그림 6에 유화중합의 핵생성 메커니즘에 대한 그림을 도식적으로 나타내었다. 그림 6에 나타낸 것은 상당히 단순화시킨 결과이며, 실제 라디칼 중합 반응은 사슬 이동반응(chain transfer)을 통해 단량체 라디칼이 입자 및 미셀의 내부에서 탈착(desorption)되어 이보다 더 복잡 한 운명을 갖게 된다. 라디칼 중합 반응은 크게, 개시(개시제의 균등분할반응을 포함, initiation), 전파 (propagation), 종결(termination)의 반응 기구를 갖는다. 개시 반응은 수상에 존재하는 수용성 개시제의 균등분할 (homolysis)에 의해 비공유전자를 가진 라디칼(전기적으로 중성)을 형성하고, 이러한 라디칼은 수상에 녹아 있는 소량의 단량체와 만나서 개시 반응을 하게 된다. 개시된 라디칼은 수상에서 성장하여, 개시제의 친수성 부분과 단 량체의 소수성 부분의 균형(HLB, hydrophile-lipophile balance)가 적당하게 유지되는 순간부터 표면활성(surface activity)을 갖게 된다. 표면활성을 가진 라디칼의 단량체의 길이는 styrene의 경우 2-3개, methyl methacrylate의 경우 4-5개 정도로 알려져 있다. 표면활성을 띈 라디칼은 단량체를 함유한 미셀이나 이미 입자로 성장한 부분의 계 면으로 이동하게 된다. 계면에 이동한 라디칼은 더 높은 단량체 농도를 가진 미셀이나 입자의 단량체와 빠른 속도 로 결합하여 성장하게 된다.(particle nucleation). 미셀이 입자로 성장하면서 표면적이 증가되므로, 주위의 유화제 와 단량체 액적계면에 존재하는 유화제를 흡착하면서 성장해 나간다. 단량체의 연속적인 소모로 인해 단량체 액적 은 단량체의 저장탱크(reservoir) 역할을 하며, 수상을 매개로 하여 확산에 의해 단량체를 성장하는 입자에 제공한 다. 반응 도중 라디칼의 종결 반응은 입자 내부나, 수상에서 발생하고 종결 반응은 크게 커플링(coupling)이나 불균 등화(disproportionation) 반응에 의해 이루어진다. 불균등화 반응의 경우 라디칼의 활성이 전이되고, 종결된 라디 칼은 이중결합을 갖게 된다. 라디칼의 종결은 소위 ‘죽은 고분자(dead polymer)'를 형성하게 된다. 유화중합의 단 계를 크게 3가지도 구분하기도 한다. Interval I, II, III 로 구분하며, 각각 핵생성기간, 중합속도일정기간, 단량체액적 소멸후 기간을 나타내나 실제로 반응열량측정법(reaction calorimetry)에 의하며, interval II인 중합속도일정기간은 유명무실하다 할 수 있다. 그만큼 입자의 핵생성 기간과 단량체의 액적소멸 후 기간이 길다고 봐야하며, 중합 시스템에 따라서 다양한 양상을 띠게 된다.



그림 6. 유화중합에서의 핵생성 메커니즘에 대한 모식도.

입자내 라디칼 농도 (The average number of radicals per particle)

입자의 생성 및 성장 메커니즘을 이해하기 위해서는 입자내 라디칼 농도의 정확한 측정을 요구한다. 라디 칼의 측정은 ESR (electro-spin resonance)법이나, γ -ray relaxation법을 통해 측정할 수 있으나, 측정 조건이나 방법이 쉬운 편은 아니다. 입자 내 평균 라디칼 농도의 간편한 평가는 핵생성 기간이 없는 시드유 화중합(seeded emulsion polymerization)법을 이용하기도 하나, 핵생성이 있는 조건에서도 Ugelstad, Nomura 등이 제시한 방법에 의해 유추할 수 있다.(그림 7)


그림 7. 유화 중합에서의 입자 당 평균 라디칼.

기타 중합법

에멀젼 중합법 이외에 여러 가지 중합법들이 있다. 아래의 표 1은 여러 가지 중합법의 특징들을 간략하게 표로 나타 내었다. 에멀젼, 마이크로에멀젼, 미니에멀젼, 현탁 중합 등은 연속상으로 물을 사용하는 것이 특징이며, 분산중합 의 경우 물/알코올의 혼합물을 통상적으로 사용한다.

표 1. 여러 가지 중합법에서의 특징

분산중합

분산 중합은 연속상을 물과 알코올의 혼합물로 사용하고, 단량체와 개시제는 통상 연속상에 녹아 있으며, 에멀젼 중합에서 사용하는 이온성의 유화제 대신, 분산제(stabilizer)를 사용한다. 분산제는 통상 PVA (polyvinyl alcohol), PVP (polyvinyl pyrrolidone)계를 사용하며, 분자량은 수천에서 수 만정도의 크기가 사용된다. 중합 개시 후, 개시 제의 라디칼로부터 성장한 올리고 라디칼(oligomeric radical)은 크기가 증가함에 따라서 연속상으로부터 유리 (separation), 침전(precipitation)된다. 침전된 예비 입자는 분산제에 의해 안정화되며 입자의 크기가 증가함에 따 라서 더 많은 단량체를 흡수하고 입자로서 성장하게 된다. 분산 중합의 특징은 입자의 크기가 수 마이크로미터 이 며 매우 균일한 입자 크기를 가진 입자를 제조할 수 있어서 표준 입자, 크로마토그래피 충진물 (통상 PDVB로 일정 크기의 pore를 가진 입자)로 사용되었으며, 지금도 다양한 응용분야가 개척되고 있다. (그림 8)

그림 8. 분산 중합의 핵생성 메커니즘(좌)과 제조된 입자의 SEM 사진(우).

현탁중합

현탁 중합에서는 연속상으로 물을 사용하고, 개시제는 유용성 개시제, 유화제로는 안정제(stabilizer, PVA, PVP, etc.)를 사용한다. 그림 9에서 보는 바와 같이 현탁중합은 입자의 크기가 수 마이크로에서 수천마이크로의 크기를 갖고 있으며 입자의 크기분포가 넓다. 균일한 입자의 제조를 위해서는 통상 sieving 공정을 거치게 된다. 유용성 개 시제의 사용으로 입자의 형성은 monomer droplet에서 주로 이루어진다. 상업적으로 상당히 많은 양의 수지들이 현탁 중합 공정을 통해서 제조된다.

그림 9. 현탁중합 반응 및 이로부터 제조된 PVC 입자의 SEM사진.

마이크로에멀젼중합

마이크로에멀젼은 크기가 수십 나노 (10-30nm) 정도로 외관상투명한 색을 띤다. 작은 입자의 크기를 제조하기 위 해서 많은 양의 유화제가 사용된다. 따라서 단량체 액적과 수상간의 표면 에너지는 0.001mJ/m2 정도의 값을 갖는 다.(통상적인 에멀젼에서는 0.1~1mJ/m2). 열역학적으로 안정화되어 있어 수십년이 지나도 입자의 안정성이 유 지된다. 유화제 및 오일(단량체), 수상간의 혼합비, 이온강도, 온도 등에 따라서 다양한 morphology를 나타내는 것 이 특징이다. 그림 10에 도시한 삼성분계에 대한 상평형도에서 볼 수 있듯이 다양한 구조의 갖는다. 이러한 구조의 특징은 유화제의 geometry (예, packing parameter) 와도 밀접한 관계가 있다. 마이크로에멀젼 중합은 중합의 주 된 장소가 단량체를 함유한 미셀이며, 모든 단량체들이 미셀에 녹아 있으므로, 에멀젼에서 볼 수 있는 interval II 구 간이 존재하지 않는다. 개시 반응으로 인한 중합 속도 증가와 단량체 소모로 인한 중합속도 감소 구간만이 존재한 다. 반응 중에 먼저 활성화(라디칼의 유입)된 미셀은 성장하면서 주변의 활성화 되지 못한 미셀의 유화제를 흡착하 여 안정화된다. 따라서 초기 미셀의 수가 입자를 결정하는 데 중요한 인자로서 작용하나, 초기 미셀 수가 그대로 입 자 수로 되는 것은 아니다.


그림 10. 마이크로에멀젼의 3 성분계 상평형도에서 나타나는 다양한 morphologies.

미니에멀젼중합

그림 11에 보인 바와 같이 미니에멀젼은 단량체 액적이 주된 반응의 자료가 되며, 단량체 액적의 저장 안정성이 큰 문제가 되고 있다. Ostwald ripening 에 의해 단량체 액적의 coalescence로 인해 액적의 주가 반응 중 변하게 된 다. 따라서 ultrahydrophobe 라 불리는 co-surfactant를 단량체의 녹여 함께 사용한다. co-surfactant로는 hexadecane, cetyl alcohol, polyester 및 isocyanate계를 사용한다. 단량체 액적에서 중합이 되므로, 마이크로에 멀젼과 같이 interval II가 존재하지 않는다. 미니에멀젼 중합법은 최근 염료의 나노 분산화, 축합 고분자의 합성, 나 노 크기의 blending 등에 활용되고 있다.


그림 11. 미니에멀젼 합성 단계의 모식도 및 이를 이용한 magnetite 의 encapsulation TEM 사진.



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라디칼 중합 메커니즘

라디칼 중합 메커니즘은 보통 다음 4 단계로 나누어서 설명합니다. 각 단계는 다음과 같습니다.

                1. 개시 반응 (initiation)
                2. 전파 반응 (propagation)
                3. 정지 반응  (termination)
                4. 사슬 이동반응 (chain transfer)

다음은 AIBN 을 사용하여서 vinyl 단량체 (CH2=CHR)의 중합과정을 화학식으로 나타낸 것입니다.

  1. 개시반응 
  2. 개시 반응은 개시제가 라디칼을 형성한 다음 이 라디칼이 첫 단량체와 반응하는 단계까지를 말합니다. 

    (1) 개시제 분해반응

     

    (2) 개시반응

    이렇게 생긴 라디칼-단량체의 라디칼은 다음 단계부터는 단량체와 계속 반응하게 됩니다.


  3. 전파반응(propagation reaction) 
  4. 전파 반응은 단량체가 계속 결합하여서 사슬의 길이가 증가하여 고분자가 형성되는 반응입니다.

    개시 단계보다 요구 에너지가 작아 빠르게 발생


  5. 정지반응(termination reaction) 
  6.  정지 반응은 두 라디칼이 반응하여서 라디칼이 없어지는 반응을 말하는데, 결합반응과 불균등반응 두가지 반응이 가능합니다. 

    (1). 결합반응 (combination) 

    (2). 불균등반응 (disproportionation)

  7. 사슬 이동 반응
  8. 사슬이동 반응은 성장하는 고분자라디칼, Rn 이 분자 X 와 반응하여서 고분자 Pn 이 형성되고 라디칼 분자 X. 가 생기는 반응으로 식 7과 같이 쓸 수 있습니다. 우리는 X를 사슬이동제 (chain transfer agent) 라고 말합니다.

    Rn + X --- kx---> Pn + X.                     (7)
    

    이 사슬 이동 반응은 고분자의 분자량, 반응속도, 중합 금지, 중합 지연 등과도 관련이 있게 됩니다.


라디칼 개시제의 종류 및 반응

자유 라디칼 (free-radical) 또는 라디칼이라고 부르는 라디칼 개시제 (radical initiator)는 단량체 존재하에서 라디칼을 생성하는 화합물을 말합니다. 일반적으로, 빛이나 열, 화학반응 또는 방사선에 의해 화학결합이 약한 부분의 결합이 끊어져서 라디칼이 형성됩니다. 개시제의 라디칼 생성 조건에 따라서 다음과 같이 나누어서 고찰할 수 있습니다. 각각에 대해서 아래에 설명하고, 표 1에 라디칼 개시제의 유형과 반응을 요약해두었습니다.

  1. 열분해 반응
  2. 산화환원 반응에의한 개시반응
  3. 직접 열 개시
  4. 광개시 반응
  5. 고에너지 방사선에의한 개시

 

 개시제 종류

 화학식 혹은 예

 1

 유기 과산화물 또는 하이드로과산화물

 R-O-O-R, RCOOH, 벤조일퍼옥시드, PhC(=O)OOC(=O)Ph 

 2

 산화-환원제

 퍼설페이트+환원제, 하이드로과산화물+ 철(Ⅱ)이온

 3

 아조 화합물

 R-N=N-R',  Me2C(CN)N=NC(CN)Me2 (AIBN)

 4

 유기금속시약

 알킬화은, RAg

 5

 열, 빛, 자외선 혹은 고에너지 조사

 

 6

 전해질의 전자이동

 

1. 열분해 반응

과산화물, 아조화합물 등은 열분해에 의해 쉽게 단일 결합이 끊어져서 라디칼을 형성합니다.

1).  과산화물의 분해    

 과산화물, R-O-O-R'은 열분해에의해 라디칼을  형성합니다.  아래에 benzoyl peroxide의 분해 반응을 보여줍니다.  그리고 표 2에는 자주 사용되는 과산화물들의 이름과 사용온도 등을 정리해두었습니다.

R-O-O-R --> 2 R-O.


2). 아조화합물의 분해 

아조화합물, R-N=N-R'은 열분해에의해 라디칼을 형성합니다. 

 R-N=N-R  --> 2 R. +  N2

 표 3. 아조화합물,(R'N=NR') 의 활성화에너지와 유용한 개시온도 범위

  R'

 Eact(Kcal/mol)

 유용한 개시온도범위(℃)

 1

 CH3

 50.2

 225~250

 2

 (CH3)2CH

 40.8

 180~200

 3

 C6H5(CH3CH)

 36.5

 105~125

 4

 (C6H5)CH

 26.6

 20~35

 5

 (CH3)2(CN)C

 30.8

 40~60

2. 산화환원 반응에의한 라디칼의 형성

퍼설페이트 등은 화학반응에 의해 라디칼을 형성합니다.

히드로과산화물도 철 이가 이온과 반응하여서 라디칼을 형성합니다.

3. 전자선 및 방사선 등 고에너지에의한 라디칼 형성

3. 직접 열 개시  및 광개시

 



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Water-in-oil polymer emulsions, process for their preparation and their use

EP 0623630 A2

초록

Water-in-oil polymer emulsions, characterised in that they contain water-soluble polymers having a mean particle size of from 0.1 to 20 mu m emulsified in a continuous oil phase comprising at least 50% by weight of an oil of vegetable or animal origin with the aid of from 0.5 to 15% by weight, based on the total emulsion, of an emulsifier mixture comprising a) from 5 to 95% by weight of a block or graft copolymer of the formula (A-COO)m-B, in which A is a hydrophobic polymer having a molecular weight of > 500 g/mol based on a poly(hydroxycarboxylic acid), B is a bifunctional hydrophilic polymer having a molecular weight of > 500 g/mol based on a polyalkylene oxide, and m is at least 2, and b) from 5 to 95% by weight of another water-in-oil emulsifier having a molecular weight of < 1000 g/mol, and optionally up to 10% by weight, based on the total emulsion, of a wetting agent having an HLB value of greater than 10, process for the preparation of the water-in-oil polymer emulsions, and the use of these emulsions as flocculents for effluent treatment and sewage sludge dewatering and as dewatering and retention agents in papermaking.

[0001] The invention relates to water-in-oil polymer emulsions of water-soluble polymers, wherein the continuous oil phase consists of at least 50 wt .-% of an oil of vegetable or animal origin, to a process for the preparation of water-in-oil polymer emulsion by polymerizing the water-soluble monoethylenically unsaturated monomers in the form of water-in-oil emulsions, wherein the oil comprises at least 50 wt .-% vegetable or animal oils in the presence of radical-forming initiators and optionally wetting agents into particles having an average particle size of 0, 1 to 20 microns and use of water-in-oil polymer emulsion as a flocculant for wastewater treatment or as drainage and retention aids for paper making.

[0002] EP-B-0045720 are known, inter alia, water-in-oil emulsions of water-soluble polymers of monoethylenically unsaturated cationic monomers. According to the information in the description oils of animal and vegetable origin can form the oil phase of the water-in-oil polymer emulsion, but in all examples, a branched paraffin is used as the oil phase.

[0003] DE-B-3302069 polymerisat- and surfactant preparations are known to occur as water-in-oil polymer emulsion and in which the oil phase of the emulsion also from vegetable and animal oils, ie essentially triglycerides, can exist. In the examples of this publication, however, only hydrocarbons will be used as the oil phase.

[0004] From EP-B 0208217 environmentally friendly Flockungsmittelorganosole are known, as the oil phase, the biodegradable aliphatic dicarboxylic acid esters, such as containing bis (2-ethylhexyl) adipate. Products of this type are produced in large-scale syntheses economically and with consistent quality. They are also readily biodegradable. According to the information in this publication, the use of vegetable or animal oils as the oil phase of water-in-oil polymer emulsions is disadvantageous because the natural products are not uniform and vary in their composition, which has an adverse effect on the quality of Organosols and their use as flocculants effect. The use of oils of vegetable origin as the oil phase in the preparation of water-in-oil polymer emulsions often leads to technical difficulties, because the water-in-oil polymer emulsions have high coagulum or are extremely difficult to filter.

[0005] From US-A-4,918,123 Water-in-oil emulsions of cationic copolymers of water-soluble and water-insoluble monoethylenically unsaturated monomers are known, using an emulsifier mixture of a polymeric water-in-oil emulsifier and a low molecular weight water normally used -in-oil emulsifier, such as sorbitan monooleate, can be produced. As oil phase but excluding hydrocarbons are described in this paper.

[0006] The polymeric emulsifier is used along with sorbitan monooleate in the process of US-A-4,918,123, is known from EP-A-0000424. These are oil-soluble, water-insoluble block copolymers of the ABA type of polyester-polyethylene oxide-polyester, prepared, for example, by reacting condensed 12-hydroxystearic acid with polyalkylene oxides.The oil-soluble block copolymers and mixtures thereof with low molecular usual water-in-oil emulsifiers are as specified in the said EP application is of particular interest for the emulsification of water in hydrocarbon oils.

[0007] From EP-A-0297184 polymerisathaltige water-in-oil emulsions are known in which the polymer particles consist of a crosslinked polymer and have a particle size of 3 microns or less. According to Example 1 of this publication, there is the oil phase of the emulsion of olive oil. In order to emulsify the aqueous phase in olive oil, use an emulsifier of sorbitan monooleate and the known from the above-cited EP-A-0000424 block copolymer. The aqueous phase which is emulsified using the emulsifier in the oil phase, but always includes a cross-linking agent such that cross-linked copolymers formed. The copolymers are water-swellable, but insoluble in water. They are used as thickeners for cosmetics and agriculture.

[0008] From EP-A-0,529,360 the water-in-oil polymer emulsions of water-soluble or water-swellable polymers are known, wherein the oil phase of the emulsion comprises at least 50 wt .-%, consists of an oil of vegetable or animal origin, and as a water-in-oil contain emulsifier compounds by reaction of (A) C₁₀- to C₂₂-fatty alcohol with epichlorohydrin in the molar ratio 1: 1.5 to glycidyl ethers: 0.5 to 1 (B) reacting the glycidyl ether with (1) saturated, 2 to 6 OH groups containing C₂ to C₆-alcohols, or (2) its monoether with a C₁- to C₂₂-fatty alcohols, in a molar ratio of glycidyl ether to (1) or (2) from 1: 0.5 to 1: 6 in the presence of acids and bases ode (C) alkoxylation of the reaction products according to (B) with at least SE C₂- to C₄-alkylene oxide in molar ratio 1: 1 to 1: 6 are available, where appropriate, 5 to 95 wt .-% of said water-in-oil emulsifiers can be replaced by other water-in-oil emulsifiers. The water-in-oil polymer emulsions can optionally contain a surfactant, so that they are self-inverting when introduced in water. The water-in-oil polymer emulsions are used for example as retention and drainage aids in the production of paper, board and cardboard or as flocculants and dewatering agent for sewage sludge. However, these emulsions sediment during storage.

[0009] The present invention has for its object to provide sedimentation-water-in-oil polymer emulsions are available, the oil phase is predominantly biodegradable.

[0010] The object is achieved with water-in-oil polymer emulsions in the continuous oil phase, the weight at least 50 - consists% of an oil of vegetable or animal origin, water-soluble polymers having an average particle size of 0.1 to 20 microns with. using 0.5 to 15 wt .-%, based on the total emulsion, of an emulsifier (A) 5 to 95 wt .-% of a block or graft copolymer of the general formula (A-COO) m -B, where A is a hydrophobic polymer having a molar mass of> 500 g / mol based on a polyhydroxycarboxylic acid, B is a bifunctional hydrophilic polymer having a molar mass of> 500 g / mol and based on a polyalkylene oxide and m is at least 2 and (B) 5 to 95 wt .-% of another water-in-oil emulsifier having a molar mass of <1000 g / mol emulsified and optionally up to 10 wt .-%, based on the total emulsion, of a wetting agent having an HLB value of more than 10 contain.

[0011] This water-in-oil polymer emulsions are prepared by water-soluble monoethylenically unsaturated monomers and water with an emulsifier is from (A) 5 to 95 wt .-% of a block or graft copolymer of the general formula (A-COO) m -B, where A is a hydrophobic polymer having a molar mass of> 500 g / mol based on a polyhydroxycarboxylic acid, B is a bifunctional hydrophilic polymer having a molar mass of> 500 g / mol and based on a polyalkylene oxide and m is at least 2 and (B) 5 to 95 wt .-% of another water-in-oil emulsifier having a molar mass of <1000 g / mol emulsified in an oil, wt .-% vegetable or animal origin is at least 50, monomers of the emulsion in the presence of radical-forming initiators and, optionally, wetting agents having a HLB value of more than 10 to give particles having an average particle size of 0.1 polymerized to 20 microns or possibly inflicts genannnten wetting agent after the polymerization of the water-in-oil polymer emulsion.

[0012] The obtainable water-in-oil polymer emulsions are used as a flocculant for wastewater treatment and sewage sludge dewatering, or as drainage and retention aids in papermaking.

[0013] The oil phase of water-in-oil polymer emulsion comprising at least 50, preferably 100% of an oil of vegetable or animal origin. These oils may be denatured or refined products. Main components of the natural oils are mainly triglycerides of which the carboxylic acid moiety is derived from mono- or polyethylenically unsaturated and saturated C₁₀- to C₃₀ fatty acids. Suitable vegetable oils are, for example, olive oil, safflower oil, soybean oil, peanut oil, cottonseed oil, rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, coffee oil, linseed oil and mixtures thereof. As animal oils fish oils, eg sardine oil, herring oil, salmon oil, shark liver oil and whale oil. In addition to the fish oils used as oil phase tallow oil, bone oil and lard oil into consideration. Both the pure oils as well as mixtures of any oils may form the oil phase of the water-in-oil polymer emulsions. Preferred oils are sunflower oil, rapeseed oil, soybean oil and tallow oil.

[0014] However, the natural oils can used for the preparation of water-in-oil polymer emulsion with water practically immiscible liquids be used with any arbitrary date. As the mixture components for the naturally occurring oils are mainly those with virtually water-immiscible liquids into consideration, which are biodegradable, such as the aliphatic dicarboxylic acid esters mentioned in DE-B-3524950. To decrease the viscosity of the water-in-oil polymer emulsions, it may be advantageous if the oil phase is up to 15 wt .-% of a hydrocarbon, typically used includes, for example hexane, cyclohexane, heptane, n-octane or isooctane. However, the oil phase preferably comprises a vegetable or animal oil or a mixture of such oils. The quantity of oil, based on the total emulsion, is 20 to 70, preferably 30 to 60 wt .-%.

[0015] The water-in-oil polymer emulsions containing finely divided water-soluble polymers. The polymers are prepared by polymerizing water-soluble monoethylenically unsaturated monomers in the aqueous phase of a water-in-oil emulsion in the presence of emulsifiers and optionally wetting agents and conventional polymerization initiators.The water-soluble monoethylenically unsaturated monomers can be copolymerized optionally together with water-insoluble monoethylenically unsaturated monomers such as vinyl acetate, wherein the water-insoluble monomers are used in general only in such an amount that still caused water-soluble polymers.

[0016] For a more detailed explanation of example only, water-soluble, monoethylenically unsaturated compounds may be mentioned the following, namely, monoethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acids such as acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, maleic acid, itaconic acid, salts of said carboxylic acids, for example the sodium, potassium or ammonium salts of acrylic and methacrylic acid esters of amino alcohols such as dimethylaminoethyl in protonated or quaternized form, eg dimethylaminoethyl hydrochloride, dimethylaminoethyl hydrosulfate, dimethylaminoethyl methochloride, dimethylaminoethyl methosulfate, dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate hydrochloride, dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate hydrochloride sulfate, dimethylaminoethyl methochloride, dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate methosulfate, acrylamide, methacrylamide, N-alkylated (meth) acrylamides, methacrylamidopropyl trimethylammonium chloride, acrylamidopropyl trimethylammonium chloride, Methacrylamidopropyltrimethylammoniummethylsulfat, Acrylamidopropyltrimethylammoniummethylsulfat, acrylamido and methacrylamidoalkylsulfonic acids and their salts such as 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid, hydroxyalkyl acrylates and hydroxyalkyl methacrylates, vinyl sulfonic acid, vinyl phosphonic acid, N-vinylamides such as N-vinylformamide, N-vinylacetamide, N-vinyl-N-methylacetamide and N-vinyl-N-methylformamide, diallyldimethyl ammonium chloride, N-vinylpyrrolidone, N-vinylimidazole, N-vinylimidazoline, 2-methyl-1-vinylimidazoline, 2-sulfoethyl methacrylate, styrenephosphonic acid, and styrene sulfonic acid.

[0017] Suitable water-soluble monomers are N-methylolacrylamide, N-methylolmethacrylamide, and of monovalent C₁- to C₄-alcohols, partially or fully etherified N-methylol (meth) acrylamides. The water-soluble monomers can be polymerized alone or in mixture with one another to water-soluble polymers either. You are in any ratio with each other acrylates.

[0018] The water-in-oil polymer emulsions of this invention, contain an emulsifier to sedimentation from (A) 5 to 95 wt .-% of a block or graft copolymer of the general formula (A-COO) m -B, where A is a hydrophobic polymer having a molar mass of> 500 g / mol based on a polyhydroxycarboxylic acid, B is a bifunctional hydrophilic polymer having a molar mass of> 500 g / mol and based on a polyalkylene oxide and m is at least 2 and (B) 5 to 95 wt .-% of another water-in-oil emulsifier having a molar mass of <1000 g / mol.

[0019] The oil-soluble water-in-oil emulsifier of component (a) are known from EP-A-0000424. Are preferably used as the emulsifier of component (a) block copolymers of the type ABA in those whose A block of condensed 12-hydroxystearic acid and the B block is polyethylene oxide having a molecular weight of more than 500 g per mole. The molecular weight of the block A also is more than 500 g / mol. Block copolymers of this type are commercially available under the name Hypermer® B246 and B261 Hypermer®. Have HLB values ​​in the range of 5 to 9. The emulsifier preferably contain 10 to 70 wt .-% of these block copolymers.

[0020] As component (b) of the emulsifier other water-in-oil emulsifiers are concerned, have a molecular weight of less than 1000 grams per mole. Suitable water-in-oil emulsifier of component (b) with HLB values ​​of 2 to 10, preferably 3 to 7, for example, mono-, di- and polyglycerol fatty acid esters, such as sorbitan monooleate, dioleate, monostearate, distearate and palmitate stearate. These esters are for example obtainable by esterifying mono-, di- and polyglycerols, or mixtures of the said polyhydric alcohols with long-chain fatty acids such as oleic acid, stearic acid or palmitic acid. Other suitable water-in-oil emulsifier sorbitan fatty acid esters, such as sorbitan monooleate, sorbitan, sorbitan trioleate, sorbitan monostearate and sorbitan. Other suitable water-in-oil emulsifiers include mannitol fatty acid esters, such as mannitol monolaurate or mannitol monopalmitate, pentaerythritol fatty acid esters, such as pentaerythritol monomyristate, pentaerythritol monopalmitate, Pentaerythritdipalmitat, polyethylene glycol sorbitan fatty acid esters, particularly the monooleate, polyethylene glycol mannitol fatty acid esters, in particular, monooleate and trioleate, glucose-fatty acid esters, such as glucose and glucose monooleate monostearate, Trimethylolpropandistearat, reaction products of isopropylamide of oleic acid, glycerine sorbitan fatty acid esters, ethoxylated alkylamines, hexadecyl sodium phthalate and Decylnatriumphthalat. The emulsifier is present in an amount of 0.5 to 15, preferably 1 to 10 wt .-% in water-in-oil polymer emulsion of the invention comprise. The emulsifiers of the group (b) are preferably 90 to 30 wt .-% in the emulsifier mixture.

[0021] The water-in-oil polymer emulsions can also optionally contain up to 10 wt .-%, based on the total emulsion, of a wetting agent having an HLB value of more than 10 contain (for the definition of the HLB-value, see. WC Griffin, Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Chemist, Vol 1, 311 (1950). Suitable wetting agents having an HLB value above 10, for example, ethoxylated alkylphenols, dialkyl esters of Natriumsulfosuccinaten, wherein the alkyl group has at least 3 carbon atoms. soaps derived from fatty acids having from 10 to 22 carbon atoms derived, alkali metal salts of alkyl or alkenyl having 10 to 26 carbon atoms. In addition, ethoxylated fatty alcohols and ethoxylated amines are. If one uses the wetting agent before polymerization, obtained particularly finely divided water-in-oil polymer emulsions.

[0022] The polymerization of the monomers is conducted in the presence of conventional polymerization initiators.Possible to use water-soluble compounds such as potassium, 2,2'-azobis (2-amidino propane) dihydrochloride, 4,4'-azobis (4-cyano-pentanoic acid) or redox systems such as ammonium persulfate / ferrous sulfate. Preferred to use oil-soluble initiators such as peroxides (dibenzoyl peroxide, dilauryl peroxide, tert-butyl perpivalate) or azo compounds (azobis (isobutyronitrile), dimethyl 2,2'-azobis (isobutyrate), 2,2'-azobis (4-methoxy-2- , 4-dimethylvaleronitrile).

[0023] The polymerization temperature depends on the decomposition kinetics of the initiator used and may range from 5 to 100 ° C. For lowering the content of residual monomers, it is also possible to start with a starter and with a second initiator if necessary to complete the polymerization at higher temperature. The amounts of initiators are generally from 0.01 to 1, preferably 0.02 to 0.5 wt .-%, based on the monomers.

[0024] The water-in-oil polymer emulsions are prepared by water-soluble monoethylenically unsaturated monomers and water with an emulsifier mixture of components (a) and (b) emulsified in an oil, which is at least 50 wt .-% of vegetable or animal origin, polymerizing the monomers of the emulsion in the presence of radical-forming initiators and, optionally, wetting agents having a HLB value of more than 10 to give particles having an average particle size of 0.1 to 20 microns, or where appropriate, the said wetting agent after completion of polymerization, the water-in -Oil-polymer emulsion causes. The average particle size of the polymers contained in the emulsions is preferably from 1 to 10 microns. The water-in-oil polymer emulsions according to the invention which contain a wetting agent, are self-inverting, ie when pouring the emulsion into water enters a phase reversal and the present in the emulsion polymer dissolves rapidly in water. Wetting agents for inverting the water-in-oil polymer emulsions are preferably ethoxylated and / or propoxylated fatty alcohols having 10 to 22 carbon atoms and a alkoxylation 5 to 20

[0025] The above-described water-in-oil polymer emulsions have relatively low levels of coagulum, are easily filterable and readily processable. The polymers have K-values ​​according to Fikentscher of at least 100, preferably from 140 to 300. The water-in-oil polymer emulsions are used as a flocculant for wastewater treatment and sewage sludge dewatering, or as drainage and retention aids in papermaking. They are also used as flocculants in drinking water treatment, for dewatering of mineral suspensions eg dredging and removal of cell cultures in fermentation processes, as a plasticizer in the slurry of Bohrgesteinen, eg in oil production, as a thickener pigment printing as well as a cement additive. In waste water treatment and sludge dewatering is required from 0.00005 to 0.5 wt .-% of copolymer with respect to the medium to be treated. When used as retention and drainage aids in papermaking, the amounts of polymer from 0.01 to 0.5 wt .-%, based on dry paper stock.

[0026] The items shown in the examples are parts by weight and percentages refer, unless otherwise indicated, on the weight of the substances. The K value of the polymers was Fikentscher, Cellulose-Chemie, 13, 58-64 and 71-74 (1932) in 5 wt. -% Saline solution at 25 ° C and a polymer concentration of 0.1 wt .-% and pH 7 determined.

[0027] The viscosity of the water-in-oil polymer emulsions was sec⁻¹gemessen in a rotational (RV20 Haake Rotovisko, MVDIN measuring system) at a temperature of 25 ° C and a shear rate of 100.

[0028] After completion of the polymerization, the water-in-oil polymer emulsion was filtered through a Perlon mesh width 0.4 mm. The filtered coagulum was then washed with cyclohexane, dried and weighed.

[0029] As component (a) of the emulsifier used is a polyester-polyethylene oxide-polyester block copolymer having a molecular weight of> 1000 g / mol, which is prepared by reacting condensed 12-hydroxystearic acid with polyethylene oxide according to the teaching of EP-A-0000424 and is commercially marketed under the name Hypermer B246. This emulsifier is hereinafter referred to as emulsifier 1.

Example 1

[0030] In a 2-liter flask provided with a stirrer, a thermometer and a gas inlet tube, Priority 270 g of rapeseed oil 30 g emulsifier 1 30 g of sorbitan monooleate 380 g of 50% aqueous acrylamide solution 0.1 g of 40% aqueous solution of diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid sodium and the mixture is stirred at a speed of 200 rpm while introducing nitrogen for 30 min. at a temperature of 25 ° C.Then add 0.1 g of dimethyl 2,2'-azobisisobutyrate in 1 g of acetone added and the reaction mixture heated to 55 ° C.

[0031] During the polymerization, the bath temperature is controlled so that the temperature of the reaction mixture remains constant. After completion of the polymerization, 0.07% coagulum were filtered off. The polymer had a K value of 240, the viscosity of the emulsion was 1300 mPas.

Example 2

[0032] In a 2-liter flask provided with a stirrer, a thermometer and a gas inlet tube, Priority 300 g of rapeseed oil 30 g emulsifier 1 30 g of sorbitan monooleate and stirred into the mixture of a monomer solution having a pH of from 6.7 250 g of 50% aqueous acrylamide solution 53.2 g of 100% acrylic acid 116 g of 25% aqueous sodium hydroxide solution 0.1 g of 40% aqueous solution of diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid, sodium salt at a speed of 200 rpm, a. After 30 min. Stirring at a temperature of 25 ° C and the introduction of nitrogen is added 0.1 g of dimethyl 2,2'-azobisisobutyrate in 1 g of acetone added and the reaction mixture heated to 55 ° C.During the polymerization, the bath temperature is controlled so that the temperature of the reaction mixture remains constant. After completion of the polymerization, 0.01% coagulum was filtered off. The polymer had a K value of 272, the viscosity of the emulsion was 740 mPas.

Example 3

[0033] Example 2 was repeated except that the oil phase 240 g of sunflower oil 20 g emulsifier 1 20 g of sorbitan monooleate and a monomer having a pH value of 6.7 200 g of 50% aqueous acrylamide solution 42.6 g of 100% acrylic acid 90 g of 25% aqueous sodium hydroxide solution 0.1 g of 40% aqueous solution of diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid, sodium salt were used. The polymer had a K value of 276, the viscosity of the emulsion was 635 mPas. 0.07% coagulum were filtered off.

Example 4

[0034] Example 3 was repeated with the exceptions that 240 g of soybean oil were used as the oil phase. The polymer had a K value of 274, the viscosity of the emulsion was 620 mPas. 0.01% coagulum were filtered off.

Example 5

[0035] In a 2-liter flask provided with a stirrer, a thermometer and a gas inlet tube, Priority 295 g of rapeseed oil 35 g emulsifier 1 10 g of sorbitan monooleate and stirred into the mixture of a monomer solution with a pH of 6.7 (adjusted with 10% aqueous hydrochloric acid) from 280 g of 50% aqueous acrylamide solution 96 g 80% aqueous solution of dimethylaminoethyl Methochloridlösung 0.1 g of 40% aqueous solution of diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid, sodium salt at a speed of 200 rpm, a. After 30 min. Stirring at a temperature of 25 ° C and the introduction of nitrogen is added 0.1 g of dimethyl 2,2'-azobisisobutyrate in 1 g of acetone added and the reaction mixture heated to 55 ° C.During the polymerization, the bath temperature is controlled so that the temperature of the reaction mixture remains constant. After completion of the polymerization, 2.8% coagulum were filtered off. The polymer had a K value of 230, the viscosity of the emulsion was 620 mPas.

Examples 6 to 21

[0036] Example 5 is reproduced by each of the apparent from Tab. 1 changes. The results obtained are also shown in Table. 1. Table 1 

Instance

M₁ / g

M₂ / g

Oil / g

E₁ / g

E₂ / g

Coagulum [%]

K-value

Viskotät [mPas]

6

280

96

295 1)

25

20

0,01

239

650

7

280

96

295 1)

15

30

0,08

255

600

8

280

96

250 1)

20

20

0,04

246

945

9

280

96

270 1)

20

20

0,12

251

810

10

280

96

270 2)

20

20

0,52

236

780

11

280

96

270 3)

20

20

0,50

239

750

12

280

96

270 4)

20

20

0,30

235

630

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13

240

150

250 1)

15

30

0,33

252

1,000

14

240

150

300 1)

15

30

0,48

245

650

15

240

150

285 2)

25

25

0.2

194

866

16

240

150

285 3)

25

25

0,17

236

770

17

240

150

285 4)

25

25

2,2

228

695

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

18

155

225

270 1)

20

20

2,4

226

770

19

155

225

270 2)

20

20

0,02

238

873

20

155

225

270 3)

20

20

0,03

240

700

21

155

225

270 1)

20

20

0,01

223

650

M₁: 50% aqueous acrylamide solution M₂: 80% aqueous solution of dimethylaminoethyl Methochloridlösung E₁: Emulsifier 1 E₂: sorbitan monooleate 1) rapeseed oil (fully refined) 2) sunflower oil 3) soybean oil (fully refined) 4) soybean oil (crude)

Application Examples

A. Preparation of Paper

[0037] The water-in-oil emulsions, which are to be studied are first inverted by dilution with water in ready-oil-in-water emulsions. The polymer content of the emulsion is inverted 0.3 wt .-%.

[0038] To accelerate the Invertiervorganges in 100 g of the water-in-oil emulsion 2.5 g of a reaction product of 1 mole of myristyl alcohol with 7 moles of ethylene oxide and 4 moles of propylene oxide and 2.5 g of a reaction product of 1 mole of myristyl alcohol with 2 moles of ethylene oxide and 4 mol of propylene oxide stirred.

[0039] Determining the drainage time of 1 liter of the paper pulp suspension is to be tested in each case dewatered in a Schopper-Riegler tester. The time is calculated for different discharge volumes will be rated as a criterion for the rate of drainage of the respective tested suspension. The drainage times were determined after a run of 700 ml water.

[0040] Optical transmittance of the white water is to be measured using a photometer at a wavelength of 590 nm and is a measure of the retention of fines and fillers. It is expressed in percent. The higher the value for the optical transmittance, the better the retention.

Examples 22 to 26

[0041] To test the effectiveness of some prepared according to the examples described above, water-in-oil polymer emulsion as a dehydrating agent and as a retention aid in paper making, a material model was chosen for these examples was prepared by breaking up the 100 parts of unprinted newsprint and 10 parts of china clay , This material model was prepared having a density of 2 g / l and a pH of 7. Table 2 lists the results. In Comparative Example 1, the material model was dehydrated by adding a commercially available water-in-oil emulsion of polyacrylamide based on an oil phase comprising mineral oil. The polymer of the commercial water-in-oil emulsion is a copolymer of 65 wt .-% acrylamide and 35 wt .-% dimethylaminoethyl methochloride.


Examples 27 to 31

[0042] Was used for these examples as a model substance be proposed paper of 33 parts magazines, corrugated cardboard and 33 parts 34 parts of old newspapers. The fabric weight was 2 g / l, pH 7 In Table 3 the results are reported which are obtained when using certain water-in-oil polymer emulsions of this invention as a drainage and retention agent. The comparison used the same commercially available water-in-oil emulsion of Acrylamidcopolymerisats as in Comparative Example first

B. Determination of the efficacy of the water-in-oil polymer emulsion as a flocculant in sludge dewatering

[0043] The water-in-oil polymer emulsions that are to be studied are first inverted by dilution with water in ready-oil-in-water emulsions. The polymer content of the inverse emulsions is 0.1%.

[0044] To accelerate the Invertiervorganges in 100 g of the water-in-oil emulsion 2.5 g of a reaction product of 1 mole of myristyl alcohol with 7 moles of ethylene oxide and 4 moles of propylene oxide and 2.5 g of a reaction product of 1 mole of myristyl alcohol with 2 moles of ethylene oxide and 4 mol of propylene oxide stirred.

[0045] After exactly standardized procedure different concentrations of the use emulsions (in ppm based on the amount of sludge) mixed with sewage sludge in a glass cylinder by swirling. The flocculated sludge is visually evaluated according to the following scale:

Flocculation 1:

No change in the sludge structure Flocculation 2: visible flocculation (in particle size) Flocculation 3: striking flocculation Flocculation 4: large flakes Flocculation 5: Totalflockung (coherent mass)

[0046] Determine the dewaterability of sewage sludge by gravity filtration: After exactly standardized procedure, the optimum concentration of the emulsion is used (ie, the lowest concentration at which the flocculation is achieved 5) mixed with sewage sludge in a glass cylinder by swirling.The flocculated sludge is poured into a Buchner funnel and filtered through a filter cloth. After 15, 30, 45 and 60 seconds the passed filtrate is measured.

Emulsion 1:

commercial water-in-oil emulsion of a copolymer of acrylamide and Dimethylaminoethylacry lat-methosulfate in a molar ratio of 90/10

Emulsion 2:

as emulsion 1, however copolymer in a molar ratio of 80/20

Emulsion 3:

as emulsion 1, however copolymer in a molar ratio 60/40

As shown in Table 4 it can be seen, corresponding to water-in-oil polymer emulsions according to the invention on the basis of vegetable oils with respect to the flocculation market water-in-oil polymer emulsions based on mineral oil and exceed the commercial emulsions in the dewatering of sewage sludge. The oil phase of water-in-oil emulsions according to the invention is also biodegradable.

청구 범위(5)

  1. Water-in-oil polymer emulsion, characterized in that in a continuous oil phase which consists of at least 50 wt .-% of an oil of vegetable or animal origin, water-soluble polymers having an average particle size of 0.1 to 20 .mu.m with the aid of from 0.5 to 15 wt .-%, based on the total emulsion, of an emulsifier (A) 5 to 95 wt .-% of a block or graft copolymer of the general formula (A-COO) m -B, where A is a hydrophobic polymer having a molar mass of> 500 g / mol based on a poly (hydroxycarboxylic acid) , B is a bifunctional hydrophilic polymer having a molar mass of> 500 g / mol and based on a polyalkylene oxide and m is at least 2, and (B) 5 to 95 wt .-% of another water-in-oil emulsifier having a molar mass of <1000 g / mol emulsified and optionally up to 10 wt .-%, based on the total emulsion, of a wetting agent having an HLB value of more than 10 contain.

  2. Water-in-oil polymer emulsion as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the oil phase consists of an oil of vegetable or animal origin.

  3. A process for the preparation of water-in-oil polymer emulsion as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that water-soluble monoethylenically unsaturated monomers and water with an emulsifier mixture to from (A) 5 to 95 wt .-% of a block or graft copolymer of the general formula (A-COO) m -B, where A is a hydrophobic polymer having a molar mass of> 500 g / mol based on a poly (hydroxycarboxylic acid) , B is a bifunctional hydrophilic polymer having a molar mass of> 500 g / mol and based on a polyalkylene oxide and m is at least 2, and (B) 5 to 95 wt .-% of another water-in-oil emulsifier having a molar mass of <1000 g / mol emulsified in an oil, that is at least 50 wt .-% of vegetable or animal origin, the monomers of the emulsion in the presence of radical-forming initiators and, optionally, wetting agents having a HLB value of more than 10 to give particles having an average particle size of 0, polymerized from 1 to 20 microns, or optionally adding said wetting agent after completion of polymerization for the water-in-oil polymer emulsion.

  4. Use of the water-in-oil polymer emulsion as claimed in claim 1 or 2 as a flocculant for wastewater treatment and sewage sludge dewatering.

  5. Use of the water-in-oil polymer emulsion as claimed in claim 1 or 2 as drainage and retention aids in papermaking.


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Methods

The following production procedures were used to polymerise acrylamide using oil soluble and water soluble initiator: With water soluble redox initiators, the following procedure was used:

  1. Purge aqueous phase and oil phase separately with nitrogen for 20 minutes;
  2. Add the oil phase to mixing beaker of the Silverson mixer;
  3. Start the mixer and add aqueous phase slowly to the oil phase in the mixing beaker under continuous nitrogen purging;
  4. Stir for 4 minutes at maximum speed;
  5. Transfer the pre-emulsion into the reaction vessel and purge for 20 minutes with nitrogen whilst stirring at 250 rpm (ca 4 Hz); maintain the temperature of the water bath at 50±° C.;
  6. at a reaction temperature of 45±1° C. and after increasing the stirrer speed to 800 rpm (ca 13 Hz), start the initiator feed; 10 ml of 0.15% Na2S2O5 in demineralised water for 500g emulsion added during period of 4 hours;
  7. After addition of initiator, feed mop-up to the emulsion 4 ml of 15.0% Na2S2O5 in demineralised water for 500 g emulsion, added over period of about 30 minutes; After completion of the polymerisation, the emulsion was filtered and the residue on the filter was measured. Polymerisation with dissociative, oil soluble initiator (AIBN) Similar procedure to except that in step 6-7:
  8. Add all initiator (1 ml of 1 part AIBN in 5 parts acetone for 500 g emulsion) at once when the temperature of the pre-emulsion reaches 40±1° C.
  9. Polymerise for 6 hours whilst purging with nitrogen

미국특허 US 6686417 B1
Surfactant composition for inverse emulsion polymerization of polyacrylamide and process of using the same

특허를 통한 기술 이해

Water-in-oil polymer emulsions, process for their preparation and their use  / EP 0623630 A2

바스프의 이 기술은 상기의 수용성 촉매를 사용하는 방법보다 쉬운것 같다. Free radical - 유용성 촉매(AIBN)를 사용하고 있고 온도 컨트롤만하면 적용이 쉬운편이다. 특이한 사항은 사용하는 계면활성제중 하나를 고분자 타입을 사용하고 있다. 아마도 AIBN의 용이한 분배를 목적으로 적용하는 것으로 보인다. 하이퍼머 시리즈는 다양한 고분자형 계면활성제를 제공하므로 적용하려는 연속상과  선택한 유용성 촉매의 성질을 고려하여 선택하면 될 것같고.......

사용하는 개시제(initiator)는 대부분의 특허에서 AIBN(VAZO 64)를 이용하고 있다. 좀 더 낮은 온도에서 개시반응을 유도하려면 VAZO 52를 개시제 총량대비 10정도 혼용하면 된다.

In a 2-liter flask provided with a stirrer, a thermometer and a gas inlet tube, Priority

  • 270 g of rapeseed oil
  • 30 g emulsifier 1
  • 30 g of sorbitan monooleate
  • 380 g of 50% aqueous acrylamide solution
  • 0.1 g of 40% aqueous solution of diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid sodium

and the mixture is stirred at a speed of 200 rpm while introducing nitrogen for 30 min. at a temperature of 25 ° C. Then add 0.1 g of dimethyl 2,2'-azobisisobutyrate in 1 g of acetone added and the reaction mixture heated to 55 ° C.

During the polymerization, the bath temperature is controlled so that the temperature of the reaction mixture remains constant. After completion of the polymerization, 0.07% coagulum were filtered off. The polymer had a K value of 240, the viscosity of the emulsion was 1300 mPas.

As component (a) of the emulsifier used is a polyester-polyethylene oxide-polyester block copolymer having a molecular weight of> 1000 g / mol, which is prepared by reacting condensed 12-hydroxystearic acid with polyethylene oxide according to the teaching of EP-A-0000424 and is commercially marketed under the name Hypermer B246. This emulsifier is hereinafter referred to as emulsifier 1.

하미퍼머 상품 자료  

UNIQEMA-HypermerPolymericSurfactants.pdf




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Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering

Print version ISSN 0104-6632
Braz. J. Chem. Eng. vol.22 no.3 São Paulo July/Sept. 2005
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0104-66322005000300009 

 POLYMER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

Neural network applications in polymerization processes

F. A. N. FernandesI, *; L. M.F. LonaII

IDepartamento de Engenharia Química, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Campus do Pici, Bloco 709, 60455-760, Fortaleza - CE, Brazil. E-mail: fabiano@efftech.eng.br IIDepartamento de Processos Químicos, Faculdade de Engenharia Química, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, C. P. 6066, 13083-970 Campinas - SP, Brazil. E-mail: liliane@feq.unicamp.br

ABSTRACT

Neural networks currently play a major role in the modeling, control and optimization of polymerization processes and in polymer resin development. This paper is a brief tutorial on simple and practical procedures that can help in selecting and training neural networks and addresses complex cases where the application of neural networks has been successful in the field of polymerization.

Keywords : Neural network; Polymerization; Simulation.

INTRODUCTION

The use of neural networks (NNs) has become increasingly popular for applications where the mechanistic description of the interdependence of dependent and independent variables is either unknown or very complex. They are now the most popular artificial learning tool with applications in areas such as pattern recognition, classification, process control, optimization (Hanai et al., 2003; Krothapally & Palanki, 1997; Nascimento et al., 2000; Syu & Tsao, 1993; Tian et al., 2001; Tsen et al., 1996; Zhang, 1999).

In the past decade many peer-reviewed articles showing good results on the application of NNs were published in the literature. But several studies with NNs failed due to the poor predictions outputted by the NN. These failures resulted in some criticism of the ability of NNs to deal with some kinds of processes. In part, the criticism is founded, since although NNs have been know for some time, they are still in the early stages of development of their underlying theory and many improvements in their structure can be made, but many applications made, failed because researchers did not try to use more than one hidden layer in the NN topology or present the NN with enough data for training. In this paper, some well-established training procedures are presented as a brief tutorial of recommend procedures and some applications are shown for more complex cases in the field of polymerization.

NEURAL NETWORKS

Most papers on the use of NNs apply a multilayered, feed-forward, fully connected network of perceptions. Reasons for the use of this kind of NN are the simplicity of its theory, ease of programming and good results and because this NN is a universal function in the sense that if topology of the network is allowed to vary freely it can take the shape of any broken curve. Figure 1 shows the scheme of this kind of NN.


In general, the network consists of processing neurons and information flow channels between the neurons, usually called "interconnects". Each processing neuron calculates the weighted sum of all interconnected signals from the previous layer plus a bias term and then generates an output through its activation transfer function. The transfer functions associating individual nodes have typically a sigmoid shape such as



Other transfer functions, such as hyperbolic tangent functions, can also be applied. The adjustment of the NN function to experimental data (learning process or training) is based on a non-linear regression procedure (Fraser, 2000). Training is done by assigning random weights to each neuron, evaluating the output of the network and calculating the error between the output of the network and the known results by means of an error or objective function. If the error is large, the weights are adjusted and the process goes back to evaluate the output of the network. This cycle is repeated till the error is small or a stop criterion is satisfied. More information regarding basic NN theory and training procedure can be found in Haykin (1998) and White (1992).

During the last few years, some procedures for using NNs have become well established and are used and recommended by several researchers (scaled inputs and data concentration) and some procedures are recommended but are still not used by many researchers (cross-validation and early stop criterion).

Scaled Inputs

Independent and dependent variables should be scaled within the same range or the same variance and shifted to the general region of NN initial conditions. Scaling is frequently done between 0 and 1, but a good training technique is to scale the independent variables between 0.1 and 0.9. Scaling can be done applying the forula


Data Concentration

For overall approximation, the training data should uniformly cover the entire design space (region between the lower and upper limits of each independent variable). If the training data has too many points concentrated in a given region and some sparse data in the rest of the design space, the NN will tend to overfit the data and the output of the NN will tend towards the region where more data were available at training. Therefore special attention should be paid to having a uniform distribution of data throughout the design space.

Simple Cross-Validation

When training NNs, the prediction error is evaluated for each iteration. If a NN with too many neurons is used, it will allow an excess of degrees of freedom that can cause overfitting of the data, i.e., the NN will train only to predict the training data set, losing its ability to correlate other data sets. A cross-validation set of data can be separated and used only to check how good the fit of the NN is, based on the sum of squared prediction errors. The optimal degree of training can be obtained when the sum of the training plus cross-validation errors are at a minimum (Figure 2). Some attention should be paid so as not to stop at the first minimum point. Training should be allowed to proceed further to check whether or not it is a point of local minimum, since a local minimum can be found. More information on advanced cross-validation can be found in Wold (1978).



Stop Criteria

There are several choices in deciding when to stop training the NN. Training can be stopped when to a predefined number of epochs (iterations) are reached, when the error function becomes small, when the gradient of the error function becomes small, or when the cross-validation error becomes small. The cross-validation criterion is highly recommended, since it prevents the NN from overfiting the data and because no minimum error value needs to be specified (which can itself be hard to establish). This procedure is sometimes called early stop by cross-validation.

ACHIEVEMENTS AND CHALLENGES WITH NEURAL NETWORKS

Currently, NNs are basically used to mimic mathematical models, classify data or estimate some product properties or as a substitute for an unknown model, which uses simple NNs with one hidden layer and a few neurons in the hidden layer. Use in decision making, complex optimization and inverse modeling in the field of polymerization is not frequent and has been avoided by many researchers simply because these applications need NN topologies or training procedures that do not comply with the ground rules established for parameter estimation techniques, specially regarding the number of weight of the NN and the number of data available to train the NN.

When treating NNs as a class of parameter estimation methods, the same ground rules that are adopted with traditional parameter estimation techniques are also applied to NNs. A ground rule such as the need for more data points than the number of parameters to be estimated, when applied to neural networks, implies a having more data sets than the number of weights used in the NN (which is not necessary). These ground rules have limited the advances that we should be getting from NNs.

When NNs were first idealized, they were taught to behave as universal approximators capable of mimicking the human mind, learning to correlate inputs and outputs. Hornik, Stinchcombe and White (1989) proved that standard multilayer feedforward networks are capable of approximating any measurable function to any desired degree of accuracy, establishing that these NNs are universal approximators. Therefore the lack of success in many applications arises from inadequate learning, insufficient numbers of hidden units or the lack of a deterministic relationship between input and target. Advances in NN application and research will occur if we can break with the current paradigm that NNs should be treated as any other parameter estimation method. In the following sections some nontraditional procedures and NN examples are shown and discussed.

Training Data

Success in obtaining a reliable and robust network depends sheavily on the choice of process variables involved, as well as the available data set and the domain used for training purposes. A problem with NN-based models is that they can lack generalization capability if not properly trained and if the data available for training is insufficient. This problem can be overcome by carefully selecting the range of data points and the form of selecting and presenting the data to the NN and through hybrid modeling, where a simplified mechanistic model is supplemented by a neural network model, and through the combination of multiple NNs.

Range of Data Points

Neural networks do not always predict well near the borders of their training range (what we call the shadow zone). Extending the training range so that the region of interest falls within 85 to 95% of the total training range can minimize the border problem. For example, if the inputs are the concentrations of A and B which range from 0.1 to 0.5 (A) and from 2.0 to 10.0 (B), then the training range should, if possible, be increased to range from 0.08 to 0.52 (A) and from 1.55 to 10.45 (Figure 3).

Random Data Points

Data used to train the NN can be gathered or selected using a full factorial design, using random points or a mixture of factorially designed points and random points. Experience has shown that training the NNs with random points lowers the error of the predictions with the training and testing data sets, where the term "training points" refers to the data set used to train the NN, while "testing points" refers to the data set used to test the prediction capabilities of the NNs (testing points differ from training points and are presented to the NN only at the testing stage, never at the training stage).

In a study to determine the operational conditions of vinyl acetate emulsion polymerization based on the information on the desired polymer characteristics (inverse modeling), we have addressed the problem of factorially designed data against random data. When randomly generated data were used, the mean prediction error for all variables decreased and the results were especially impressive for very sensitive variables such as initiator concentration (Figure 4).


An explanation for the better results obtained for randomly selected data points than for points obtained by factorial design is that when points from a star factorial design for two variables are fed to the NN, the NN will work with nine inputs, but only five different input values (Figure 5a). On the other hand, if nine randomly selected data points are fed to the NN, the NN will work with nine inputs and up to nine different input values (Figure 5b). Using evenly spaced points, the same inputs will generate only three different input values, reducing the number of different input values (Figure 5c).



The effect of the random data points is that they can cover the region of variables better and more evenly, therefore providing better information about the response in this region. An important consideration is that not only should the region of variables be well covered, but also each variable should have a distributed coverage, with as many different values as possible. Evenly spaced points will have the same response as random points but more data points will be required to cover the entire region of variables and to provide enough different values for each variable than for randomly selected data points.

Data Gathering

Design and conduction of a large number of experiments to generate data for NN training is expensive and time consuming and may not be acceptable either in a production environment or to experiment with NNs capabilities. Thus the use of a mathematical model to generate the data for NN training is almost essential, unless there is a large amount of data for the process. The use of a mix of simulation data and experimental results is welcome, and experimental results should be used when testing and cross-validating the NN so as to ensure that the simulation data and also the NN predictions are satisfactory.

A typical question that arises regarding the need for data from a mathematical model to train the NN, is "why use a NN if I already have a mathematical model?" A NN outputs an answer much faster than a mathematical model, especially if the mathematical model is complex. This enhanced speed can be very welcome for optimization problems (like in inverse modeling) and for process control where the response to a disturbance must be almost instantaneous.

NN Topology

Prior to training and using a neural network, the best topology and the best way to train must be found. First, potentially good topologies must be identified. Nevertheless, no good theory or rule accompanies the NN topology that should be used and trial-and-error is still required. This is done by testing several topologies and comparing the prediction errors. Smaller errors indicate potentially good topologies, i.e., neural network topologies with chances to train well and to output good results.

Regarding the best topology, it may be dangerous simply to assume that a single hidden layer will naturally provide adequate approximations. For the case of a single hidden layer, it should be noted that a given degree of accuracy is attained only in the limiting case as the number of nodes becomes infinitely large. For most complex cases, additional hidden layers are required, not only from the point of view of a good fit but also additional layers provide an improved capacity to generalize. With a finite set of data, it is possible to reduce the number of network weights by adding layers (Morgan et al., 1999; Curry et al., 2000, 2002). Still, as a future challenge in the NN field, there is a need for further theoretical research on the impact of the number of nodes and hidden layers and how to optimize the relationships between them.

Aside from the theoretical considerations, we offer some practical tips for searching for potentially good topologies depending on three different classes of NNs (Figure 6). We have proposed these classes so as to differentiate the NNs according to the ratio of number of input variables to number of output variables. Class I refers to the NN that has more input than output variables, while Class II refers to NNs with an equal number of inputs and outputs and Class III refers to the NN which has more output than input variables.



For Class I NNs (more inputs than outputs), one hidden layer is enough in most cases and, according to Tamura and Tateishi (1997), if N-1 neurons are used in the hidden layer (where N is the number of inputs), the NN will give an exact prediction. This recommendation works well when the system has a small number of inputs and the correlation between the data points (inputs and outputs) is not very complex; otherwise their recommendation will not always work and we recommend the use of 8 to 20 neurons in the hidden layer for better precision and shorter training time. If the number of outputs is equal to or higher than four and they are not independent (one cannot be estimated without the others), then a second hidden layer might be needed for better predictions.

For Class II NNs (same number of inputs and outputs), one hidden layer is not always enough and a NN with two hidden layers is recommended in order to enhance its ability for generalization. If one hidden layer is used we recommend the use of 20 to 40 neurons in the hidden layer. If two hidden layers are used, we recommend the use of 13 to 20 neurons in the first hidden layer and from 18 to 25 neurons in the second hidden layer (five more neurons than what was used in the first hidden layer).

For Class III NNs (more outputs than inputs), two or three hidden layers are needed. If two hidden layers are used, we recommend the use of 10 to 20 neurons in the first hidden layer and from 15 to 25 neurons in the second hidden layer. If a third hidden layer is used, this layer should have the same number of neurons as the second layer.

The recommendations made for the number of hidden layers and neurons in each layer will provide the user with a NN that will function and will most probably made good predictions, but will not provide an optimized NN (which would require a statistical analysis of the neuron responses and elimination of excess neurons).

Stacked Neural Networks

To avoid the process of training several NNs and selecting the best one, stacked neural networks can be used (Figure 7). Instead of selecting a single best NN, a stacked network which combines a number of NNs can improve overall representation accuracy and robustness (Zhang et al., 1997; Zhang, 1999).



The overall output of the stacked NN is a weighted sum of the individual NN outputs:

where Y is the stacked NN predictor, yi is the ith NN predictor and wi is the stacking weight for the ith NN.

Since each NN can behave differently in different regions of the training range (or space), the combination of results from two or more NNs can be more accurate, since a bad result from one NN can be compensated for by two good results from the other NNs. In Table 1, the benefit of a stacked NN is shown for an inverse modeling case, where the concentration of three initiators and the process temperature were searched in order to produce polystyrene with a given molecular weight and polydispersity (additional information on this case study is given in section 4.2). As shown in Table 1, the prediction error for a stacked neural network can be lower than the individual errors for each NN that have been combined.

This kind of NN can be of special interest to those who want to apply NNs but do not want to select the best NN. At any rate, a notion of potentially good NNs is needed or the predictions will fail. The example in Table 2 shows how the stacked NNs will not output good results when bad NNs are selected.

Number of Data Samples

A sufficient number of data points should be used to guarantee good NN training. If the rules for parameter estimation are to be applied, the number of data points for training should be at least ten times the number of weights to be estimated, but this rule is extremely overestimated for neural networks. There is still no formula to estimate the number of data points required to train a NN, and the number can vary greatly depending on the complexity of the problem and the quality of the data, but many NNs have been trained successfully with smaller number of data points than number of weights. An optimization of the number of data sets that is really needed is still a challenge in the field of NNs.

A NN model is a set of computational rules associated with a network that tries to simulate the network of human neurons learning from experience. And like the human brain, NNs can learn to correlate data and generalize relationships with a small and limited set of data that is sufficient to learn the correlation and are insensitive to too many data points. This is the same thing that happens to us, humans. We learn the consequences of an action under different circumstances, by experiencing it or watching others. After a few experiences (data points) we can correlate the consequence of that action under any new circumstance. We do not need to experience it several billions of times (we have billions of neurons and therefore several billions of weights), as we are insensitive to too many data points. Unfortunately, the functionality of the NN cannot represent the complexity of the human brain, it cannot "think", but in a way it can "learn" from the data presented to the NN.

In some of our research, we addressed the inverse modeling of polymerization reactors, using Class II neural networks to optimize polymerization systems and Class III neural networks to estimate the operating conditions of a polymerization reactor based on the information on polymer properties needed for a given application. In a study on the selection of initiator mixtures for styrene polymerization using NN, the errors of the individual variables as a function of the number of training points were examined. The trained NN should be able to select an initiator mixture and an operating temperature that are appropriate for producing polystyrene with a given molecular weight and polydispersity but it was constrained by the maximum amount of heat that could be produced by the reaction (the reactor cooling system had a maximum capacity for heat removal – additional information on this case study is presented in section 4.2).

The NN was presented with different numbers of data in the learning set (the testing set remained the same) and it was observed that 300 data points were sufficient to guarantee good predictions and above 300 data points the NN did not improve its predictions much (prediction errors remained at a constant level) (Figure 8).

The influence of the size of the learning set in a neural network used in the inverse modeling of an emulsion reactor (vinyl acetate polymerization) was also studied. The NN consisted of two hidden layers with 20 and 25 neurons respectively in the first and second hidden layers. The network was provided with different numbers of data points in the learning set, and the results showed that 298 points were sufficient to guarantee good NN training and that fewer data points increased the prediction errors. Learning sets with more than 300 points did not enhance the training procedure, and therefore the quality of prediction was insensitive to a larger set.

In the examples cited, a 4-20-25-25-4 NN was trained successfully with 296 data points and a 5-20-25-4 NN was trained with 298 data points. If parameter estimation recommendations were followed, the number of data points should be at least ten times the number of weights. In these NNs, the number of weights are 1205 and 680 respectively for the 4-20-25-25-4 NN and the 5-20-25-4 NN, and the estimation of the weights would require 12050 and 6800 data points respectively, or more than 30 times the number of data points needed.

As a starting point for the number of data points required to train a NN, we recommend the use of 20 times the number of inputs x outputs. This number is generally greater than the number of points that made training insensitive to extra data. And the number of total hidden neurons should be about four times greater than the number of inputs x outputs displayed in many hidden layers, as recommended in section 3.2. Using these numbers, we always obtained prediction errors between 2 and 10%. Reducing the number of data points, the prediction errors increased.

Recurrent Neural Networks

In the on-line control of polymerization processes, application of recurrent NNs can be useful (Figure 9) (Tian, et al., 2001; Xiong & Zhang, 2005). Recurrent NNs are similar to a multilayered, feed-forward, fully connected network of perceptions, but one or more of the inputs (at time t) are the outputs of the NN at times t-1, t-2 and others. The lagged network outputs are fed back to the network input nodes as indicated by the back-shift operator z. In this way, dynamics are introduced into the network, and thus the network output depends not only on the network inputs, but also on the previous network outputs.

RECENT ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE FIELD OF POLYMERIZATION

Most applications of NNs in the field of polymer uses the Class I NN to predict end-user properties based on the molecular weight distribution of the polymer or the physical characteristic of the polymer (Al-Hiak et al., 2004; Ebube et al., 2000; Fujii et al., 2003; Hinchliffe et al., 2003; Huang & Liao, 2002; Kuroda & Kim, 2002; Simon & Fernandes, 2004; Sumpter & Noid, 1994; Sun et al., 1996; Zhang et al., 2003). This application is usually simple and does not require many data points to train the NN. Problems with multiple answers do not generally occur in this application; thus the use of these NNs is very direct and difficulties are not common.

In this section we present cases where Class II and Class III NNs are used with success in order to design, optimize and control polymerization processes.

Inverse Modeling

A novel use of NNs is their application in inverse modeling and reactor optimization. Inverse modeling is the name given to the search process whereby the results of a system are used to obtain its initial conditions. For polymerization reactors, this means that the initial operating conditions are obtained based on the product quality desired. Few papers have been published on this subject (Hanai et al., 2003), since these applications involve Class II and Class III NNs and are very complex to train, requiring two or three hidden layers and at least 15 neurons per hidden layer. The major difficulty in training NNs in these cases is that the problem may lead to multiple answers.

A mathematical model can easily predict the polymer properties from the inputs of reactor conditions, but the other way around (inverse modeling) is much more difficult and an optimization technique must be used. In the past few years we have applied inverse modeling to fluidized bed, emulsion and batch reactors with very good results when predicting the operating conditions of the reactor based on the product quality desired (Fernandes & Lona, 2002; Fernandes, 2002; Fernandes, et al., 2004).

A study to determine the operating conditions of gas-phase ethylene polymerization in a fluidized bed reactor, based on information on the desired polymer characteristics, focused on determining a NN structure, as shown in Figure 10, that could handle prediction of the operating conditions of the reactor, since a simple NN with one hidden layer failed to output good results. The reactor is very complex and at least six variables must be set for the operating conditions: gas feed rate (monomer), catalyst feed rate, gas superficial velocity, porosity, pressure and temperature. The number of variables that need to be specified increases if copolymerization is employed. In this case, gas feed rate for the monomers and the comonomer must be known and this study was carried out with an ethylene and 1-butene copolymer.


Data used in training were selected using a full 3n factorial design, covering the whole range of operation of the reactor. Points for the factorial design were taken as the lowest, medium and highest values of the range of operation of each variable. Reactor pressure was set at 25 atm and was not used in the NN training. The ranges of the operating conditions used for each variable are presented in Table 3.

Some data from the factorial design lay beyond the limit of physical capability of the reactor and thus were omitted. The final amount of data available for training was 176 points, of which 20% (35 points) were used as testing points. A smaller number of points (2n factorial design) was tested, but the deviations between the NN predictions and the simulation data were greater than 10%, while a maximum of 2% deviation would be expected as a good prediction for this kind of application. Deviations were calculated as



Several topologies from one to three hidden layers were tested, and the best results were obtained with a three hidden-layer NN with 25, 20 and 20 neurons, respectively, in the first, second and third hidden layers. This was the smallest network that had output predictions with less than a 2% deviation between NN prediction and simulation data. Tables 4 and 5 show typical examples of the quality of the NN prediction for this inverse modeling problem. Standard error for all predictions (training and testing data) was 1.38%.



The reactor can be optimized using the same NN as that used for inverse modeling, adding new variables that account for the better performance and efficiency of the reactor, such as production cost, initiator consumption, heat generation rate and others. The introduction of these variables helps to transform a Class III NN into a Class II NN, reducing the complexity of the system and helping to simplity training.

Adding optimization variables, such as production rate or production cost, to the NN, helps to avoid systems with multiple answers. In the case shown in this section, due to the nature of the polymerization system it is possible to have two or more operating conditions giving the same polymer characteristics (molecular weight, polydispersity and copolymer composition). If solely these characteristics are given to the NN when using it, the NN will most probably return a valid operating condition that will produce the desired polymer. Other conditions may exist, but will not be outputted by the NN. Adding the variable production rate in the NN avoids the multiple answer problem since most probably the response will be unique. Two or more conditions may produce a given polymer characteristic, but their production rates will be different, and therefore there will be a unique solution.

The same kind of work has been applied to styrene polymerization in a batch reactor and to vinyl acetate polymerization in an emulsion reactor with results similar to those in the case of the fluidized bed reactor shown previously (Fernandes, et al., 2004).

Initiator Mixture Selection

Productivity of batch processes is related to the reduction in time required to complete each batch. An increase in productivity can be achieved by running the polymerization isothermally using a mixture of initiators with different decomposition rates. Industrial-scale reactors are designed to withstand a maximum rate of heat release by exothermic polymerization, which normally corresponds to the auto-acceleration of the polymerization rate. Nevertheless, the average rate of heat release during the batch time is significantly lower than the maximum cooling capacity of the system, meaning that the cooling system is underutilized during most of the polymerization. The amount of heat that could still be released is represented by the gray region in Figure 11.



This potential heat can come from an increase in the polymerization rate at the beginning of the batch, which can be achieved using an initiator with a short decomposition time. Two other initiators with medium and long decomposition times can be used to spread the polymerization rate and heat release over the batch time. Thus, the amount of each initiator in the mixture can be optimized in order to increase productivity, while not exceeding the maximum heat release for which the cooling system is capable of compensating.

In a study of styrene polymerization, neural networks were used to discover the optimum operating condition of the reactor, aiming for the best mixture of initiators that could be used. The neural network shown in Figure 12 was used to evaluate whether NNs could be applied to this kind of optimization problem.



Three initiators were selected and used in the initiator mixture: Vazo 52, Vazo 64 and Vazo 88. The decomposition rate constants for these initiators are shown in Table 6.


The data used to train the NNs were obtained with a mathematical model for bulk polymerization of styrene. Table 7 presents the ranges of temperature and initiator concentration that were used in the simulations. The operating conditions (initiator concentration and temperature) were selected randomly from the range presented in Table 7. Randomly selected data rather than factorially designed data were used since random data provides better training for this kind of NNs. A total of 394 operating conditions were simulated, with 298 used to train the NN and 96 to test it. Prediction errors for each variable after NN training are presented in Table 8.


Formulation of an optimal initiator mixture can be stated as an optimization problem in which the decision variables are the amount of each initiator and the operating temperature. The constraints to be satisfied include the final desired quality of the polymer (molecular weight and polydispersity), maximum cooling capacity and desired productivity. The results that were obtained were promising, and the prediction errors using NN were small. Table 9 shows typical examples of the prediction that can be made for this problem.


Besides their use in the selection of initiator mixtures, trained NNs can be used to optimize reactor productivity and polymer quality as well. Productivity can be improved using the NN to search for new operating conditions that, for example, can increase productivity while maintaining all other polymer characteristics constant. Figure 13 shows an example of the increase in productivity that can be obtained using the NN.

In order to optimize productivity, a known case (operating condition 1) was used as the starting point for the optimization. A search procedure was created to find the optimum point, which consisted of increasing the productivity variable (NN input variable) while maintaining constant the values of the other input variables. Upon each increase, the trained NN outputted new operating conditions for the reactor in order to achieve that specified productivity. The increase in the value of productivity continued till an invalid value for the operating conditions was outputted by the NN, marking the end of the search for optimum productivity. The invalid value can be an impossible operating condition (such as a negative concentration) or a condition outside the training range.

Grade Changes

When dealing with continuous reactors, NNs can be useful in designing grade changes. Profiles for temperature and concentration can be inferred from the current grade, the target grade and the kind of switchover to be followed during the change. A study of grade changes was done for vinyl acetate emulsion polymerization in continuous reactors (Fernandes, et al., 2004).

Emulsion polymerization of vinyl acetate is a heterogeneous reaction system, in which a basic batch recipe is composed of monomer (vinyl acetate), water, initiator and emulsifier. Thus, when running a batch reaction to polymerize vinyl acetate four variables must be set as the reactor's operating conditions: monomer, initiator and emulsifier concentrations and temperature. Operation under these conditions will produce a polymer with a given molecular weight, polydispersity, particle diameter and branching frequency, so a NN for the system will have input and output variable as in the structure shown in Figure 14.


The data used to train the NN were obtained running a mathematical model for emulsion polymerization of vinyl acetate and some experimental data points were also used. The ranges of temperature and initiator concentration that were used in the simulations are presented in Table 10. The operating conditions (initiator concentration and temperature) were selected randomly from the ranges presented in Table 10. A total of 394 operating conditions were simulated, with 298 used to train the NN and 96 to test and cross-validate it.


A NN with a 5-20-25-4 topology was selected as the most suitable network and was trained for 250000 iterations, lowering the mean prediction errors to less than 5% for all variables (Table 11).

Grade changes can be studied by setting a target grade for the polymer (molecular weight, polydispersity, branching frequency, particle diameter and productivity) and using the NN to predict the operating conditions in order to produce the target grade, as shown in Table 12.

Different grade change policies can be simulated. Figure 15 shows such a grade change if a hypothetical linear change is desired for the polymer properties and production rate, i.e., polymer quality and production change at a constant rate. In this case, the changes in the operating conditions are smooth, and hence the likelihood of policy feasibility is enhanced.

If a smaller amount of off-specification product is desired, a policy that changes the production rate rapidly can be devised. Figure 16 shows the profile for the example of production rate to be employed in the grade change and the profiles for the operating conditions that should be used for the grade change. In this case, the changes in the operating conditions are also smooth, following a feasible path that can be implemented and easily controlled.

The kind of grade change can be optimized by comparing the results from the NN for total cost, amount of off-spec product produced and shorter time of grade changing, among others.

Process and Quality Control

Quality control in batch processes is challenging because product quality is not known until batch processing has been completed and because a direct measurement of the molecular weight and molecular weight distribution of the polymer is not available instantaneously. In general these measurements are made indirectly (by means of the viscosity and density of the reaction media) or directly but in this case there is a time delay between the time at which the sample is taken and the time at which the result is available. Two good ways of dealing with the problem are available in the literature. The first uses a hybrid NN (Tsen et al., 1996) and the second uses the recurrent NN (Tian et al., 2002).

When using hybrid NNs the initial condition of the reaction (at t = 0) is sent to the NN, along with the results of an intermediate measurement of polymer quality taken at t = x. The NN processes this information and returns the new operating conditions to the reactor in order to compensate for the any deviation (or disturbance) in the process. The new conditions can imply a new temperature or addition of monomers or initiators. This procedure is recommended when one or more intermediate measurements of polymer quality are taken during the batch.

When on-line measurements of viscosity, density, monomer concentration or other variables are available, then the use of a recurrent NN is recommended, since this will permit better quality control.

CHALLENGES IN THE FIELD OF POLYMERIZATION

Many challenges still await solution in the use of NN in the field of polymerization. Some challenges can be pinpointed:

To achieve a better understanding of how the topology of the NN affects the prediction results, especially for the number of hidden layers and Classes II and III NNs.

To developed better ways of training the NN in the shadow zone.

To conduct studies of inverse modeling for more complex reactors and reactions, especially for copolymerizations and emulsion reactors.

To find a NN that better deals with problems that have multiple answers, like the inverse modeling problem.

To improve the NNs ability to handle a large number of recipes. In controlling polymerization reactors, the procedures in use today handle only one recipe per NN.

Inverse modeling using advanced NNs, such as fuzzy NNs.

CONCLUSIONS

The great challenge in NN research is to come up with better procedures for the use of NNs. Currently, the application of NNs requires of the researcher (or user) a good knowledge of NNs and of the process for which the NN will be used. Finding the best topology is still very time consuming and can sometimes be frustrating, resulting in bad predictions.

In this paper a brief tutorial of the usual and recommended practices to be used with NNs were presented and some practical tips based on our experience were given. Several cases were also reviewed showing ways that NNs can be applied with success.

The biggest challenge now is to apply NNs to complex problems, especially those related to quality control, complex process optimization and inverse modeling. These applications require more complex NNs such as Class II and Class III NNs, which often require two or more hidden layers and a large number of neurons in each hidden layer.

Neural networks have good potential for use in the field of polymerization but Class II and Class III NNs still need to be better understood and their predictions to become more reliable and precise; this is the great challenge to the scientific community now so that the use of NNs can be advanced.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors thank the Brazilian research funding institutions FAPESP – Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo - and CNPq – Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico- for the financial support received.

NOMENCLATURA

  • a : parameter of the sigmoid function
  • Ymax : maximum value of variable Y
  • Ymin : minimum value of variable Y
  • Ynorm : normalized variable Y

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Received: June 04, 2004, Accepted: April 8, 2005

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라디칼 촉매

Vazo® free radical sources from DuPont provide efficient initiation of many chemical reactions, including:

  • acrylic and vinyl polymerizations
  • halogenations (brominations)
  • oxidations and related chain reactions
  • additions of small molecules across olefinic double bonds
  • cross-linking

Product Description

The DuPont™ Vazo® free radical sources are substituted azonitrile compounds that thermally decompose to generate two free radicals per molecule. (Nitrogen gas is also generated.) The rate of decomposition is first-order and is unaffected by contaminants such as metal ions. Vazo® free radical sources are used to initiate bulk, solution, and suspension polymerizations. Vazo® products can be used alone, or in combination with other free radical initiators.

For Solvent Systems

DuPont offers four commercial grades: Vazo® 52(G), 64(G), 67(G), and 88(G). The grade number is the Celsius temperature at which the half-life in solution is 10 hours. These grades are:

  • Delivered in solid white "noodle" form
  • Soluble in a wide variety of solvents (aromatic hydrocarbons and other functional organic compounds)
  • Slightly soluble in aliphatic hydrocarbons
  • Insoluble in water



For Aqueous Systems

DuPont offers three commercial grades: Vazo® 56 WSP, 56 WSW, and 68 WSP. The grade number is the Celsius temperature at which the half-life in solution is 10 hours. All four of these grades are water-soluble.



Selecting a Grade of Vazo®

Temperature Range

The most important criterion for choosing the correct grade of Vazo® free radical sources is the temperature at which the reaction is to be run. Vazo® FRSs are generally used within a range of 10 to 30°C (18 to 54°F) above the temperature corresponding to the grade number. This range is a rough guideline only. For instance, Vazo® 64 has been used at 125°C (257°F), where the half-life is less than 1 minute.

Half-Life

Half-life (t1/2), expressed in minutes as a function of temperature, varies for each grade of Vazo® according to the formulae below. (T = temperature in °K.)

Vazo® 52: log (t1/2) = 6767 (1/T) - 18.037 (in toluene) Vazo® 64: log (t1/2) = 7142 (1/T) - 18.355 (in toluene) Vazo® 67: log (t1/2) = 7492 (1/T) - 19.215 (in 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene) Vazo® 88: log (t1/2) = 7660 (1/T) - 18.39 Vazo® 56 WSP and 56 WSW: log (t1/2) = 6426 (1/T) - 16.75 (in water) Vazo® 68 WSP: log (t1/2) = 5920 (1/T) - 14.58 (in water)

Solubility

Another factor in choosing a particular grade is solubility. Vazo® 56 WSP, 56 WSW, and 68 WSP are the grades soluble in water. All the other grades are essentially insoluble in water, sparingly soluble in aliphatic hydrocarbons, and soluble in functionalized organic compounds and aromatic hydrocarbons. Vazo® 67 is significantly more soluble in organic solvents and monomers than the other grades. Caution must be used in the handling of highly concentrated solutions to avoid a self-accelerating decomposition.

Use as Blowing Agent

Vazo® free radical sources are used as blowing agents by taking advantage of the nitrogen evolved during decomposition. However, organic by-products are released in addition to the nitrogen.


Benefits of Vazo®

Solvent-Soluble

Solvent-Soluble Vazo® free radical sources offer a number of advantages over organic peroxides.

  • More stable than most peroxides, so can be stored under milder conditions and are not shock-sensitive.
  • Decompose with first-order kinetics; not sensitive to metals, acids, and bases; not susceptible to radical-induced decompositions. This makes Vazo® free radical sources more efficient and predictable than other free radical sources.
  • Produce less energetic radicals than peroxides, so there is less branching and cross-linking.
  • Are weak oxidizing agents, which lets them be used to polymerize unsaturated amines, mercaptans, and aldehydes without affecting pigments and dyes.
  • - Are available in four grades to use over a wide temperature range.

Water-Soluble

Water-Soluble Vazo® free radical sources offer all of the advantages of the solvent-soluble grades, plus these other benefits: narrow molecular weight distribution

  • cationic or anionic functionality
  • minimal branching
  • no sulfur


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EP 2515833 A1 (WO2011077083A1의 텍스트)

초록

Inverse emulsions made by inverse emulsion polymerisation have a disperse aqueous phase comprising a solution or dispersion of at least one water soluble polymer, particularly a polymer that forms a viscous solution or dispersion in water, and a continuous oil phase which is or includes an ester oil including an alkoxylated alcohol group. The inclusion of ester oil including an alkoxylated alcohol group provides these oils in emulsions, particularly personal care emulsions made by inversion of the inverse emulsions on dilution with water.

INVERSE EMULSIONS COMPRISING AN ALKOXYLATED ESTER OIL

This invention relates to inverse (water in oil) emulsions of aqueous solutions or dispersions of water soluble polymers in oils which are or include emollient oils particularly ester oils based on alkoxylated alcohol moieties, and in particular to making such emulsions by reverse phase or inverse emulsion polymerisation, and to the use of such emulsions in personal care products.

Polymers used for rheology modification, particularly thickening, of aqueous systems often tend to form very viscous solutions or dispersions, which can be seen as highly viscous lumps which are difficult to disperse, particularly if the, usually solid, polymer is directly mixed with water. One way around this is to provide the polymer well dispersed in a non-aqueous medium before mixing this with the water. A particularly convenient way of doing this is to make the thickening polymer by an inverse emulsion polymerisation process, and then inverting the inverse emulsion by diluting it into water. Inverse emulsion polymerisation methods are described in US 2,982,749, US 3,284,393 and US 4,506,062. Subsequently the advantages of inversion on dilution were appreciated and this became a normal procedure, notably for polyacrylamide used in water purification as described in WO98/09998 A and for making homo-/co-polymers of water soluble monomers as described in GB 1384470 A.

Such polymers are commonly used as thickeners in the personal care industry, where ionic and non-ionic hydrophilic monomers are frequently used, for example acrylates and methacrylates, particularly as free acids or salts with alkali metals, ammonia or amines. When used in the form of inverse emulsions, they commonly use mineral oil as the continuous phase but other oils have been suggested e.g. silicones (WO 2002/044228 A), di-and tri-glycerides, esters (US 2002/0032243 A) and, for making acrylamides, ester based, particularly vegetable, oils (WO 98/09998 A). However, for personal care use, such products and methods commonly use oil phases that are not especially desirable in the intended personal care products. Thickeners are widely used in personal care products, frequently formulated in combination with components such as surfactants, fragrances, preservatives and antimicrobials. An important component for topical skincare applications is a skin conditioning agent or emollient. Typically emollients include fatty acid esters of which a very wide range are known for use as emollients. Esters of alkoxylated alcohols and carboxylic acids are suggested as emollients in personal care formulations in US 5,693,316, US 5,455,025 and US 6,476,254.

This invention is based on our finding that the use of alkoxylated esters of carboxylic acids can give inverse emulsions containing water soluble polymers, particularly such polymers that act as thickeners in aqueous solution, with advantageous properties, notably that it is possible to get improved viscosity build compared to conventional inverse emulsion thickeners, and benefits arising from the emolliency properties of the alkoxylated esters. This approach simplifies personal care product formulation by delivering such enhanced emollients in the oil phase of the inverse emulsion which carries the rheology modifying, usually thickening, polymer. This may provide both sensory and Theological benefits, in that it may provide enhanced skin feel over standard mineral oil inverse emulsions as evidenced by improved break/yield points. Further alkoxylated esters can provide significant self emulsification and this can be used to reduce the overall level of emulsifier surfactants needed in the end products.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided an inverse (water in oil) emulsion made by inverse emulsion polymerisation having a disperse aqueous phase comprising a solution or dispersion of at least one water soluble polymer, particularly a polymer that forms a viscous solution or dispersion in water, and a continuous oil phase which is or includes an ester oil including an alkoxylated alcohol group.

The term "water soluble polymer" is understood to refer to polymers that form a solution in water that is substantially free of insoluble polymer particles. In addition, the term also includes embodiments in which the polymer is water-swell able.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of making inverse emulsion having a dispersed aqueous phase, said emulsion comprising: i) a solution or dispersion of at least one water soluble polymer, particularly a polymer that forms a viscous solution or dispersion in water; and

ii) a continuous oil phase which is or includes an ester oil including an alkoxylated alcohol group,

wherein said method comprises

a) dispersing in an oil phase an aqueous solution of monomers, said monomers being polymerisabie to form a water soluble or dispersible polymer, said oil phase comprising or consisting of at least one ester oil having an alkoxylated alcohol group; and

b) polymerising said monomers to form a colloidal suspension of particles, of a solution or dispersion of the resulting polymer in water, in the oil.

According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided an alternative method of making an inverse emulsion having a dispersed aqueous phase, said emulsion comprising:

i) a solution or dispersion of at least one water soluble polymer, particularly a polymer that forms a viscous solution or dispersion in water; and

ii) a continuous oil phase which is or includes an ester oil including an alkoxylated alcohol group,

wherein said method comprises

a) dispersing in an oil phase an aqueous solution of monomers, said monomers being polymerisabie to form a water soluble or dispersible polymer;

b) polymerising said monomers to form a colloidal suspension of particles, of a solution or dispersion of the resulting polymer in water, in the oil; and

c) subsequently including in the emulsion at least one ester oil comprising an alkoxylated alcohol group.

In the method of the third aspect the ester oil including an alkoxylated alcohol group may be included in the emulsion:

i) by addition to a preformed emulsion, where the oil in which the emulsion was made is compatible with the downstream use of the emulsion; or ii) by partial or complete replacement of the oil in which the emulsion was made by the at least one ester oil including an alkoxylated alcohol group.

As an alternative to the emulsion polymerisation method as described in the second and third aspect, the inverse emulsion may be made by micro dispersion polymerisation (also known as miniemulsion polymerisation) in which dispersed droplets of monomer are formed by homogonisation of the aqueous and oil phases, and the monomer is polymerised when in the form or the droplets to provide a colloidal suspension of particles. In this alternative method of making the inverse emulsion, all other features would be as described with reference to the methods of the second or third aspects.

The particular emollient oils used in the inverse emulsions of the invention are esters including alkoxylated alcohol groups. Desirable such esters may be selected from the following, either alone or in any combination:

i esters of long chain fatty acids and alkoxylated fatty aliphatic alcohols, in particular of the formula (I):

R -C(0)0(A01)n1R2 (I)

wherein

R1 is a C7 to C23, especially a C9 to C17, hydrocarbyl, particularly alkyl or alkenyl, group; each group AO1 is independently an alkyleneoxy group, particularly an ethyleneoxy or propyleneoxy group;

n1 is from 1 to 15, preferably 1 to 10, particularly 1 to 5;

R2 is a fatty aliphatic, especially a C8 to C20 aliphatic group, and particularly an alkyl, alkenyl or alkynyl group;

ii diesters and/or triesters of aliphatic and/or aromatic dicarboxylic and/or tricarboxylic acids and fatty alkoxylated alcohols, in particular of the formula (II):

Figure (2)

wherein R3 is a C2 to C10 hydrocarbyl group;

R4 is a fatty hydrocarbyl, particularly an alkyl, alkenyl or alkynyl group; AO2 is an alkyleneoxy group, particularly an ethyleneoxy or propyleneoxy group;

n2 is from 1 to 15, preferably 1 to 10, particularly 1 to 5;

R5 is a group of the formula R60(0)C- where R6 is selected from H, a salt forming moiety, particularly an alkali metal, ammonium or an amine, or a group (A02)n2 2 where AO2, n2 and R2 are as defined above; and

m is equal to either 0 or 1 ;

Particular desirable esters are citric acid esters of the general formula (Ma):

CH2.C(0)-(OA2a)n2a-OR4a
I
HO-C(0)-(OA2a)n2a-OR4a
I
CH2.C(0)-R6a (Ma)

wherein;

each R4a is independently a group R4 as defined in formula (II);

each OA2a is independently a group AO2 as defined in formula (II);

each n2a is independently is from 1 to 15, usually 1 to 10, particularly 1 to 5; and

R6a is selected from H or a group (A0 a)n2aR2a where A02a, n2a and R2a are as defined above.

Further desirable esters are dicarboxylic acid esters of the general formula (Mb):

R4b(OA2b)n2bO(0)C.CHR7-CHR7.C(0)-(OA2b)n2b-OR4b (lib)

wherein

each R b is independently a group R4 as defined in formula (II)

each OA2b is independently a group AO2 as defined in formula (II);

each n2b is independently from 1 to 15, usually 1 to 10, particularly 1 to 5; and

each R7 is selected from H, Ci to C30 alkyl, or C2 to C30 alkenyl group, or together the two groups R7 represent a direct bond between the carbon atoms to which they are attached.

iii esters of fatty carboxylic acids and polyalkoxylates of aromatic alcohols, in particular of the formula (III): R90-(A03)„3-C(0)-R10 (III)

wherein

R9 is a group comprising an aromatic ring;

R10 is a fatty alky(en)yl group;

each group AO3 is independently selected from an alkyleneoxy group, particularly an ethyleneoxy or propyleneoxy group; and

n3 is from 1 to 15, usually 1 to 10, particularly 1 to 5.

The long chain fatty acids in the esters of alkoxylated fatty aliphatic alcohols are desirably C8 to C24, especially C10 to Ci8, fatty acids. The fatty acids can be straight chain or branched, and saturated or unsaturated, and suitable fatty acids include 2-ethylhexanoic, lauric, myristic, palmitic, stearic, /'so-steraric, oleic and linoleic acids. The fatty alcohols used in these esters are desirably C8 to C2o, especially Cio to C18. The fatty alcohols may be straight chain or branched, and may be saturated or unsaturated. The fatty alcohols may be selected from alkenyl, or alkynyl groups. Suitable examples include 2-ethylhexyl, lauryl, myristyl, palmityl, palmitoleyl, stearyl, /so-stearyl, oleyl and linoleyl. The alkoxylation will typically be formed of ethyleneoxy or propyleneoxy groups or combinations of ethyleneoxy and propyleneoxy groups, which may form block, tapered block or random chains.

Desirably the alkoxylation is of ethyleneoxy groups or combinations of ethyleneoxy and propyleneoxy groups with more than 50%, usually more than 70%, desirably more than 80%, (molar) ethyleneoxy groups. The number of alkyleneoxy residues is typically from 1 to 100, more usually from 2 to 20, particularly from 3 to 15. In practice this number is an average value and may therefore be non-integral. Examples of suitable esters of long chain fatty acids and alkoxylated fatty aliphatic alcohols include (using INCI nomenclature) PPG-2 myristyl ether propionate (available as Crodamol PMP from Croda Europe) di-PPG-3 ceteth 4 adipate (available as Cromapure GDE from Croda Europe) and di-PPG-2 myreth-10 adipate (available as Cromollient SCE from Croda Europe). The fatty alkoxylate di- and/or tri-esters of aliphatic and/or aromatic dicarboxylic and/or tricarboxylic acids are typically based on dicarboxylic and/or tricarboxylic acids which are usually C-i to C30 acids. The fatty alcohol alkoxylates are typically based on similar types of alcohol to those described above for the esters of long chain fatty acids and alkoxylated fatty aliphatic alcohols and the examples given are equally applicable to these di- and tri-esters. The alkoxylation is also typically similar to that described above for the esters of long chain fatty acids and alkoxylated fatty aliphatic alcohols.

These di- and tri-esters have the advantage that they can provide an exceptional dry emollient feel in topical formulations particularly when compared with other oils of similar molecular weight. The invention accordingly includes an inverse (water in oil) emulsion having a dispersed aqueous phase comprising a solution or dispersion of at least one water soluble polymer, particularly a polymer that forms a viscous solution or dispersion in water, and a continuous oil phase which is or includes an ester oil including an alkoxylated alcohol group, which is a fatty alkoxylate di- and/or tri- ester of aliphatic and/or aromatic dicarboxylic and/or tricarboxylic acids. The esters of fatty carboxylic acids and polyalkoxylates of aromatic alcohols are typically made using the similar types of fatty acid to those described above for the esters of long chain fatty acids and alkoxylated fatty aliphatic alcohols and the examples given are equally applicable to these esters of alkoxylated aromatic alcohols. The aromatic alcohols are typically compounds in which an aromatic group is a substituent on a hydrocarbyl, usually alkyl or alkenyl chain, usually a to C30, particularly a Ci to C10, chain. Typically the aromatic group includes an aromatic nucleus containing from 6 to 20 carbon atoms (exclusive of substitution), particularly 6, 10 or 14, more particularly 6 or 10, carbon atoms. Examples of suitable aromatic nuclei are benzene (C6), naphthalene (C10) and anthracene (C 4) ring systems. Alkoxylated aromatic alcohols based on these ring systems have one, two or more, but desirably one hydroxyl group(s).

The alkoxylation is again typically similar to that described above for the esters of long chain fatty acids and alkoxylated fatty aliphatic alcohols. Examples of such esters of alkoxylated aromatic alcohols include: PEG-2 PPG-3 cinnamyl linoleate (cis, cis-9, 12-octadecanodienoate), PEG-60 PPG-80 cinnamyl laurate, PEG-6 PPG-3 cinnamyl myristate, PPG-5 cinnamyl palmitate, PPG-2 benzyl ether myristate (available as Crodamol STS from Croda Europe), PPG-3 benzyl myristate, PPG-10 benzyl propionate, PPG-10 benzyl myristate, PEG-10 benzyl acetate, PEG-20 benzyl stearate, di- (PEG-3, PPG-9) -4,8-di-hydroxyethyl-naphthyl monopalmitate, PPG-4 2-naphthyl caprate, PPG-4 2-naphthyl myristate EMI22.4 PEG-5, PPG-4 2-naphthyl oleate (cis-9- octadecenoate), PEG-5, PPG-4 2-naphthyl linoleate (cis, cis-9,12- octadecadienoate), PEG-3, PPG-5 2-naphthyl laurate, PEG-3, PPG-5 2-naphthyl behenate, di- (PEG-3)-2, 6-di-hydroxymethyl- naphthyl dimyristate, di- (PEG-3)-2, 7-di-hydroxymethyl-naphthyl dimyristate and PEG-3, PPG-5 4- naphthyl behenate. Other emollient and/or non-emollient oils may be included in the inverse emulsions. Examples of such other emollient oils include ester oils, particularly esters of carboxylic acids and aliphatic alcohols more particularly esters of fatty acids and alcohols and carboxylic esters of fatty alcohols including fatty alcohol esters of fatty carboxylic acids; alkoxylate oils particularly polyalkoxylate, especially wholly or mainly polypropyleneoxy, ethers of fatty alcohols e.g. stearyl alcohol 15-propoxylate (Arlamol E ex Croda); medium chain length, particularly branched paraffins such as /so-decane.

Non-emollient oils, particularly hydrocarbon, particularly mineral paraffin, especially /so-paraffin, oils, may be used as or in the continuous phase in inverse emulsion polymerisation. These oils may be retained in the inverse emulsion product or they may be wholly or partially removed e.g. by distillation.

The oil phase will usually comprise from 15 to 70 wt.%, more usually 25 to 50 wt.% and correspondingly the aqueous phase typically comprises 85 to 30 wt.%, more usually 75 to 50 wt.%, of the inverse emulsion. The weight ratio of aqueous phase to oil phase is typically from 0.5:1 to 3:1 , usually about 2:1. The oil phase will usually comprise the oil and oil soluble surfactant, particularly to aid emulsification of the aqueous phase in the oil phase. Of the oil, the ester oil including an alkoxylated alcohol group will typically comprise from 1 to 100 wt.%, more usually 20 to 60 wt.%, particularly 30 to 55 wt.% of the total oil in the inverse emulsion. When included, the other emollient oil(s) such as normal esters will typically comprise from 1 to 99 wt.%, more usually 40 to 80 wt.%, particularly 45 to 80 wt.% of the oil. When included, any non- emollient oil(s) present will typically comprise not more than 80 wt.%, usually from 5 to 70 wt.%, more usually 20 to 65 wt.%, particularly 40 to 60 wt.% of the total oil in the inverse emulsion. Mixed oil composition s having lower amounts of non-emollient oil(s) may be obtained by distilling the non-emollient oil from the inverse emulsion to give a desired level.

The composition of the final formulation (inverse emulsion polymer dispersion) is typically (by weight %):

Figure 

The water soluble polymer incorporated in the aqueous phase of the inverse emulsions of the invention may be ionic or non-ionic but is typically based on (meth)acrylic monomers especially hydrophilic acrylic monomers such as (meth)acrylic acid, (meth)acryamide, and (meth)acrylic esters having hydrophilic substitution e.g. one or more hydroxyl groups as in 2-hydroxyethyl (meth)-acrylate. Particularly useful polymers and copolymers can be made using mainly (meth)acrylic acid, especially mainly acrylic acid. Other monomers may be included to provide particular effects (see further below)

In addition to the primary (meth)acrylic monomers, the polymers may include other monomers which provide additional functionality. In particular monomers which include strong acid groups may be included to improve the hard water tolerance and/or the pH range over which the (co-)polymers provide useful thickening or rheology modifying effects. The monomers including strong acid generally include sulphate acid or sulphonic acid groups (or their salts), although phosphate or phosphonate groups (or their salts) may also be used. Examples of such monomers include 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulphonic acid (AMPS), (meth)acrylic acid isethionate, vinyl sulphonic acid and sodium vinyl sulphonate. The proportion of such strong acid containing monomers is typically up to about 90 mol.%, more usually from 5 to 50 mol.%, particularly 10 to 40 mol.%, and desirably 10 to 20 mol.%, of the total monomer used in the water soluble (co-)polymer.

The water soluble polymers are generally at least partially crosslinked e.g. slightly crosslinked, lightly crosslinked etc.) to increase their molecular weight and their capacity to form structure in aqueous solutions. The crosslinking may also provide specific rheology control in aqueous systems. This is typically done by including a minor proportion of a monomer with at least two ethyleneic double bonds. Typically the monomer has just two ethyleneic double bonds. Suitable monomers include diethylenically unsaturated compounds such as methylene bis acrylamide, ethylene glycol di(meth)acrylate, di(meth)acrylamide, vinyloxyethyl acrylate or methacrylate. Crosslinking may also be carried out by including mono-ethylenically unsaturated compounds with other reactivity such as N-(hydroxymethyl) acrylamide before. The amount of cross linking agent used is typically in from 0.01 to 1 mol.% more usually 0.005 to 0.2 mol%, particularly 0.0075 to 0.02 mol%.

Water soluble (co)polymers are commonly used in end product, particularly personal care, formulations to thicken and for rheology modification of the formulation. Thickening involves increasing the viscosity of the product and is used both to give a desired viscosity, which may have sensory and aesthetic benefits, in the product and to assist in stabilising the product, particularly increasing the stability of emulsion and/or dispersion discontinuous phase components. Rheology modification involves changing the flow properties of the product going beyond just increasing the viscosity, in particular it is likely to involve generating non-Newtonian flow properties in the product, commonly shear thinning. Typically the water soluble polymers will have a molecular weight of at least about 3 kD, more usually at least about 20 kD, particularly more than about 100 kD and especially more than about 1 MD. Typically the maximum molecular weight is about 10, particularly about 4, MD.

To provide stability the inverse emulsions will include water in oil emulsifiers, which are usually relatively hydrophobic, oil soluble surfactants, generally having a Hydrophile Lipophile Balance (HLB) value of no more than about 9, more usually from 2 to 7, particularly from 3 to 5. The water in oil emulsifiers are typically hydrophobic low molecular weight surfactants and/or hydrophobic polymeric surfactants.

Suitable hydrophobic low molecular weight oil soluble surfactants include sorbitan mono, sesqui, and/or tri- fatty, particularly Ci4 to C20 mono-unsaturated fatty, especially oleic, acid esters; glycerol mono- and/or di-fatty, particularly C to C2o mono-unsaturated, especially oleic, acid esters; and fatty, particularly C-u to C20 mono-unsaturated, especially oleic, acid alkanolamides, particularly ethanolamides, especially diethanolamides. Examples of such emulsifiers include sorbitan esters such as sorbitan monooleate ("Span 80" from Croda) and sorbitan isostearate. Such hydrophobic low molecular weight surfactants typically have HLB values in the range 1.5 to 7.5, more usually 2 to 6, e.g. Span 80 has an HLB of 4.3.

In hydrophobic polymeric surfactants, the polymeric hydrophobe typically contains at least 30 carbon atoms, linked to a hydrophile group, typically through a carboxyl function. Examples of suitable polymeric hydrophobe groups include polymeric hydrocarbyl groups, usually having from 50 to 1000, more usually up to 500, carbon atoms and commonly based on olefin polymers such as poly/so-butylene, which may conveniently be linked to the hydrophile through a succinic acid group (typically by an "ene-" reaction between the polymerised olefin and maleic anhydride, to give a hydrocarbyl substituted succinic anhydride that can be further reacted to make the surfactant); and polyester groups, typically a polyester of a hydroxy fatty acid, particularly a hydroxy C12 to C20 fatty acid such as hydroxy-stearic acid (usually 12-hydroxystearic acid), containing typically from 50 to 200, more usually 100 to 150, carbon atoms, corresponding (where hydroxystearic acid is used to an average of about 7 hydroxystearate residues. The hydrophile can be a short hydrophile group, particularly derived from an alcohol or polyol, an amine or polyamine, a compound containing both amine and hydroxyl groups, optionally including other groups such as carboxyl groups, or functional derivatives of such amino-, or hydroxyl, or carboxyl groups. Alternatively, the hydrophile group can be a polymeric hydrophile e.g. a polyoxyalkylene group, particularly a polyoxyethylene group. Surfactants having a polyester hydrophobe will usually include a polymeric, particularly polyoxyethylene, hydrophile and surfactants having a hydrocarbyl hydrophobe may have either a short chain or a polymeric hydrophile. Examples of suitable polymeric surfactants include poly(isobutylene) alkanolamides, particularly the ethanolamide, (available as Hypermer 2422 from Croda Europe) and polyethyleneoxy-polyhydroxy-stearate- polyethyleneoxy block copolymers (available as Hypermer B246 from Croda Europe). Such polymeric surfactants are relatively hydrophobic surfactants and typically have HLB values in the range 3 to 8 and particularly 4 to 6, e.g. Hypermer 2422 has an HLB of 4.1. Mixtures of low molecular weight and polymeric water in oil surfactants may advantageously, and because typically both types are low HLB surfactants usually straightforwardly, be used.

The water in oil emulsifiers are present to stabilise the inverse emulsions. Where the (co-)polymer emulsion is made by inverse emulsion polymerisation, may be included in the emulsion before polymerisation and act to stabilise the inverse emulsion during polymerisation. Where the (co-)polymer is manufactured separately and then dispersed to form the inverse emulsion the water in oil emulsifiers will typically be dissolved or dispersed in the oil prior to inclusion of the (co-)polymer.

The inverse emulsions may include oil in water emulsifiers, particularly as inverting agents i.e. to promote ready and desirably spontaneous inversion (to form oil in water emulsions) on dilution with water. Commonly inverting agents are added after polymerisation of the water soluble polymer (commonly by the manufacturer of the inverse emulsion) before downstream use, particularly after post-polymerisation processing e.g. distillation to remove solvent, but they may be added by a downstream user prior to dilution with or in water.

Typical oil in water emulsifiers (inverting agents) are hydrophilic water soluble emulsifiers usually having a HLB value of at least 7, more usually from 9 to 14. Suitable oil in water emulsifiers include fatty, usually C8 to C18, more usually Cio to Ci6, alcohol 8 to 20, usually 10 to 12, more usually 11 or 12, polyalkoxylates, particularly polyethoxylates or mixed polyethoxylate/polypropoxylates (usually with a minor proportion of polypropoxylate) such as those sold as Synperonics and Volpos by Croda; and ethoxylated sorbitan esters, particularly mono- oleate, sorbitan esters, such as those sold as Tweens and Crillets by Croda.

The total amount of surfactant included in the inverse emulsions of the invention will typically be from 1 to 20 wt.%, commonly 2.5 to 15 wt.%, more usually from 3 to 10 wt.%, and particularly about 5 to 8 wt.%, of the inverse emulsion. Of this, the water in oil emulsifier (inverter) will typically be from 1 to 10 wt.%, more usually from 2 to 8 wt.%, of the inverse emulsion and typically from 18 to 10 wt.%, more usually from 15 to 12 wt.%, of the polymer inverse emulsion.

The inverse emulsions of the invention may also contain additives which do not adversely affect the final product characteristics such as completing agents, chelating agents/sequesterants e.g. citric acid and EDTA, to prevent metallic impurities having adverse effects, chain transfer agents, to limit/control molecular weight if desired, and solvent, volatile organic solvent, typically used in small amounts to disperse such agents in during polymer synthesis. The total amount of these components it usually not more than 3% wt.% of the total emulsion.

A further benefit that can be obtained is that when certain alkoxylated esters are used they may have or add self emulsifiablity properties to emulsions made using them. In particular addition of further oil(s) may be considerably simplified either to the inverse emulsion or to oil in water emulsions made from them. Typically aqueous dispersions made using mineral oil based inverse emulsions take up to a further 15% wt.% (of the dispersion) of an additional or secondary oil. We have found that aqueous dispersions made inverse emulsions of, or made by the method of the invention, can take substantially larger proportions of secondary oil, typically 35 to 45 wt.%, with the emulsion remaining stable (without additional surfactant) and not causing substantial change in the viscosity of the thickened aqueous system. Surprisingly, we have found that on adding such secondary oil to at least some inverse emulsions of the invention an increase in viscosity is produced. This may be because of improved dispersibility of the rheology modifying polymer, particularly enabling improved space filling and/or chain detanglement.

The inverse emulsions are made by inverse emulsion polymerisation and the process will typically be generally similar to conventional such polymerisations in which monomer(s) are dissolved in water, typically at from 20 to 80 wt.% of total emulsion and, typically also, a crosslinker, together with chain transfer agents, initiators and sequesterants as required.

The aqueous solution is dispersed in the oil phase which includes the hydrophobic component(s), typically including at least one water in oil emulsifier(s) and usually at least one polymeric emulsions stabiliser such as hydrophilically terminated PIBSA derivatives, particularly amides, especially hydroxyl substituted amides such as ethanolamides e.g. Hypermer 2422 (from Croda), and hydrophilic-oleophilic, particularly hydrophilic-oleophilic-hydrophilic block copolymers, especially poly(hydroxy fatty acid); polyethylene oxide; poly(hydroxy fatty acid) triblock copolymers, particularly where the fatty acid is hydroxystearic acid e.g. Hypermer B-246 (from Croda). The mixture is mixed, usually under high shear, to emulsify the aqueous phase in the oil phase and, as necessary deoxygenated. The polymerisation is initiated using an appropriate source of free radicals e.g. thermally or redox generated free radicals or both.

The synthetic reaction system may include chain transfer agents to control the molecular weight and molecular weight distribution of the water soluble polymer. More sophisticated approaches to controlling molecular weight and molecular weight distribution may be used if desired, particularly using controlled free radical polymerisation methods such as Catalytic Chain Transfer (CCT) and Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP). After polymerisation, the inverse emulsion comprises an internal (disperse) phase of the water soluble (co)polymer dissolved in water and an external oil phase. The oil phase used in the polymerisation may be of or include alkoxylated ester or the alkoxylated ester may be added after polymerisation. The polymer content of the emulsion may be adjusted (increased) by distilling (including vacuum and/or steam distilling) solvent from the system. This can be used to reduce the amount of (otherwise inert) water carried with the desired polymer, ultimately possibly to make the emulsion substantially anhydrous. Non-emollient oils that may be desirably absent form the product may be removed at this stage by this distillation.

At this stage it is convenient to add the inverting agent (though it may be added later as is noted above) and it may be desirable to add a polymeric surfactant or wax to act as an oil-phase structurant to improve the shelf-life stability of the inverse emulsion.

The primary application of these inverse emulsions is to provide the water soluble polymers in the personal care products in which they are required. The main effect of including the polymers is to thicken the end products, because the polymer is (in solution) dispersed in an oil phase which is an excellent emollient, with a gain in product attributes from the enhanced emollient performance and/or benefits to product rheology. The inverse emulsions can provide effective thickening in aqueous or mixed aqueous/organic systems typically at concentrations from 0.1 to 10 wt.%, particularly 0.5 to 6 wt.%. The inverse emulsions can provide a combination of thickening / rheology modification with associated emoiliency of the alkoxylated esters and possibly other emollient components included in the oil phase.

The inverse emulsions can be used for a wide range of personal care applications. For example, skincare, such as facial moisturisers, hair care, particularly hair styling mousse, hair serums and shampoo, products, sun care, particularly as lotions containing suncare actives, products and cosmetic, particularly skin moisturiser, moisturising foundation and make-up products.

Thus, according to a fourth aspect of the present invention there is provided Personal Care products in the form of an emulsion having an aqueous continuous phase and one or more disperse phases, including an emollient oil phase, which comprise an inverse (water in oil) emulsion of the first aspect, or an inverse (water in oil) emulsion made by a method of the second or third aspect. Additionally, according to a fifth aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of making a Personal Care emulsion which comprises inverting an inverse (water in oil) emulsion in the presence of water, in particular by diluting the inverse emulsion with or in water, said inverse emulsion being an emulsion of the first aspect or made by the method of either the second or the third aspect. Examples of typical personal care formulations including the inverse emulsions of the invention as components are outlined below:

Facial Moisturiser

Component Function wt. %

inverse polymer emulsion thickener/rheology modifier 2

steareth-21 emulsifier 2

steareth-2 emulsifier 2

diisopropyl adipate emollient 2

C-io-30 cholesterol/lanosterol esters conditioning agent 5

ethylhexyl palmitate emollient 2

propylparaben preservative 0.15

deionised water to 100 methyl paraben preservative 0.15

Hair Serum

Component Function

aqueous sodium laneth-40 maleate/styrene

heat protection Ό c sulfonate copolymer

inverse polymer emulsion thickener/rheology modifier 3

PPG-3 benzyl ether myristate glossing agent 1 diisopropyl adipate light glossing ester 1 aqueous cocodimonium hydroxypropyl silk amino

smoothing 1 acids

propylene glycol humectant 1 benzyl alcohol + methyl paraben + propyl paraben preservative 0.2 deionised water to 100 The use in formulating products, particularly personal care products, of inverse emulsions of water soluble polymers in emollient oils including alkoxylated esters, provides the end product formulator with a multi-functional product. This simplifies the task of the formulator in including improved product aesthetics, particularly rheology, and functionality, particularly emulsification and suspension properties and as noted above in some cases self emulsification. Their use further enables end-users to move away from petrochemically derived oils such as mineral oils e.g. isoparaffins/ Os in support of improving sustainability.

In addition to the above comments, oil can be added to the emulsions after polymerisation. The inclusion or incorporation of alkoxylated ester oils during the polymerisation seems to improve the ease with which this can be done.

Typically, oil additions can be of from 5 to as high as 40% and possible oils which can be added include isoparaffins, other emollient esters, particularly alkoxylated alcohol esters, and silicone oils, particularly dimethicone oils. The exemplar formulation below is challenging with respect to the rheology modifier. Normally, further surfactant would be required in order to stabilise such a high oil phase formulation, however, the inverse emulsion of this invention allows uptake of the secondary oils without the need for additional surfactants and, without negative impact on rheology performance.

The exemplar formulations above use levels of the inverse emulsion of 2 to 3 wt.% of the overall formulation. Higher levels of inverse emulsion may be used, particularly by post formulation addition e.g. to give a total of 5 wt.% or even more e.g. up to 10 wt.%, to obtain higher gel strength or to compensate for formulation additives that tend to reduce the viscosity of break a desired gel. Post addition of this type enables both process optimisation for polymerisation and optimisation of the inverse emulsion to suit the downstream products. The following Examples illustrate the invention. All parts and percentages are by weight unless otherwise specified. Materials

Monomers

AA acrylic acid

AMPS 2-acrylamido-2methyl-1 -propane sulphonic acid

MBA methylene-bis acrylamide

Oils - Alkoxylated Esters

AOil1 PPG-3 benzyl ether myristate

ΑΟΪΙ2 Di-PPG-3 Myristyl Ether Adipate

Oils - Esters

EOiH ethyl hexyl cocoate

ΕΟΪΙ2 /sotridecyl isononanoate Oils - Other oils

HOil 1 hydrocarbon solvent (low aromatic)

Surfactants - polymerisation stabilisers

Surfl sorbitan oleate

Surf2 Hypermer 2422

Surf3 Hypermer 2524

Surfactants - inverter surfactant

Inv 1 tridecanol 6-ethoxylate

Polymerisation iniators

ABDV 2,2'-azobis(4-methoxy-2,4-dimethyl valeronitrile) in dichloromethane ex Waco TBPO r-butyl peroxide Other

NaOH aqueous NaOH solution with the w/v concentration in brackets

Synthesis Examples

Example SE1

This Example illustrates the manufacture of an inverse emulsion including a lightly cross-linked copolymer of acrylic acid and AMPS as a thickener in the aqueous disperse phase. Aqueous and oil phases were made up by separately mixing the components listed below. In making up the aqueous phase the temperature was kept at less than 30°C during addition of the NaOH solution (partially neutralising the acid monomer).

Material Amount (wt.%) mmol

Aqueous phase

AA 15.68 218

2 AM PS 5.98 30

MBA 0.024 0.19

NaOH (40 % w/v) 19.97 200

water 23.8

Oil phase

AOH1 9.23

EOil2 9.23

HOil1 10.79

Surfl 1.22

Surf2 1.22

ABDV 0.24

The two phases were sparged with nitrogen for 30 minutes in separate flasks, then were mixed in a 500 ml reaction vessel equipped with a nitrogen sparge, stirrer and thermometer, using high shear under a nitrogen atmosphere to form a water in oil emulsion. Solutions of chelating agents [EDTA] (0.019 wt.%) and citric acid (0.019 wt.%) in water (0.48 wt.%) and t-butyl peroxide free radical initiator (0.12 wt.%) in ethylhexyl cocoate (0.24 wt.%) were added to the reactor. Polymerisation was started by adding aqueous sodium metabisulphite (0.012 wt.% in 1 .7 wt.% water) over 1 hour using a peristaltic pump. After the reaction exotherm had subsided, the reaction mixture was kept at 40°C for 2 hours and volatile solvent (including water) removed by vacuum distillation giving a polymer solids content of about 55 wt.% and finally 4 wt.% Inv1 was added.

Example SE1a

Example SE1 was repeated but using a higher level of crosslinker (MBA at 0.048 wt.%) to give a more highly crosslinked product with a higher molecular weight and viscosity build capacity on dilution in water.

Example SE2

Aqueous and oil phases were made up as described in SE1 using the components listed below:

Material Amount (wt.%) mmol

Aqueous phase

AA 21.12 293

MBA 0.031 0.24

NaOH (40 % w/v) 24.94 624

water 23.35

Oil phase

EOil2 15.66

HOiH 9.16

Surf3 1.22

ABDV 0.23 The synthetic method was as described in SE1 but using the following amounts:

EDTA solution 0.018 wt.%

citric acid 0.018 wt.%

in water 0.45 wt.%

t-butylperoxide 0.11 wt.%

in ethylhexyl cocoate 0.23 wt.%

aqueous sodium metabisulphite 0.011 wt.% in 1.57 wt.% water

The reaction mix was worked up as described in SE1 to give a polymer solids content of about 58 wt.% and 3.5 wt.% of AOiM and ca 6 wt.% of Inv1 were added. Example SE3

Aqueous and oil phases were made up as described in SE1 using the components listed below: Material Amount (wt.%) Aqueous phase

AA 27

MBA 0.015

NaOH (48 wt.% aqueous solution) 3.5

water 28

Oil phase

AOiM 3.2

Surfl 0.51

EOil1 11.7

HOiM 11.5

Surf2 1.95

ABDV 0.5

The synthetic method was as described in SE1 but using the following amounts:

EDTA solution 0.026 wt.%

citric acid 0.013 wt.%

in water 0.5 wt.%

t-butyl peroxide 0.034 wt.%

sodium formaldehyde sulphoxylate 0.04 wt.% in 1.8 wt.% water

The reaction mix was worked up as described in SE1 to give a polymer solids content of about 58 wt.% and ca 6 wt.% of Inv1 was added.

Example SE4

Aqueous and oil phases were made up as described in SE1 using the components listed below:

Material Amount (wt.%)

Aqueous phase

AA 27

MBA 0.015

NaOH (48 wt.% aqueous solution) 13.5

water 28

0/7 phase

AOil2 3.2

Surfl 0.51

EOiM 11.7

HOiM 11.5

Surf2 1.95

ABDV 0.5

The synthetic method was as described in SE1 except that the amounts were changed as follows: EDTA solution 0.026 wt.%

citric acid 0.013 wt.%

in water 0.5 wt.%

t-butyl peroxide 0.034 wt.%

sodium formaldehyde sulphoxylate 0.04 wt.% in 1.8 wt.% water

The reaction mix was worked up as described in SE1 to give a polymer solids content of about 58 wt.% and ca 6 wt.% Invt

Examples SE5

Aqueous and oil phases were made up as described in SE1 using the components listed below:

Material Amount (wt.%)

Aqueous phase

AA 24.9

MBA 0.032

NaOH (48 wt.% aqueous solution) 17.5

water 26.2

Oil phase

AOil1 6.23

Surfl 0.125

EOil1 8.7

HOiM 11.22

Surf 2 2.24

ABDV 0.5

The synthetic method was as described in SE1 but using the following amounts:

EDTA solution 0.025 wt.%

citric acid 0.013 wt.%

in water 0.5 wt.%

t-butyl peroxide 0.032 wt.%

sodium formaldehyde sulphoxylate 0.04 wt.% in 1.7 wt.% water

The reaction mix was worked up as described in SE1 to give a polymer solids content of about 58% and ca 6 wt% In 1 was added.

Application Examples

Materials Inverse emulsions made as described in the Synthesis Examples are identified by their SE numbers.

Comparative inverse emulsions:

CIE1 RMA52 - inverse acrylic emulsion with mineral oil continuous phase ex SNF SA

Test Methods

  1. Long Term Stability (a key requirement in personal care products) - was assessed on aqueous dispersions (AD) and oil emulsions (OE). The aqueous dispersions were made up by adding a measured quantity of inverse emulsion to a measured amount of water (usually to form a 2 wt.% dispersion of the polymer in water) with stirring to form a smooth gel-like dispersion. The oil emulsions used for testing were personal care formulations made up using the inverse emulsions (Formulations 1 to 4 below). Samples of the formulations were subjected to accelerated ageing by storage at 45°C for 3 months (normally assessed as equivalent to 12 months storage at ambient temperature). The stability of the formulations was assessed visually on samples taken periodically during the test period.

  2. Shelf Life Stability - this was assessed on the water in oil inverse emulsions by centrifuging a weighed sample of the inverse emulsion at 4000 rpm (ca 67 Hz) for 20 minutes. The supernatant liquid was decanted, the residual solid was weighed and the solids reported as a percentage of the whole sample mass (the lower the figure the more stable the sample). 3. Inverted Emulsion Rheology - was assessed using a HAAKE Rheostress 600 at ambient temperature, both on 2 wt.% aqueous dispersions and as emulsion formulations (from Formulations 1 to 4).

  3. Self Emulsification - was evaluated on emollient containing dispersions from the inverse emulsions by seeing how much further (secondary) oil can be included in the dispersion, without addition of further emulsifier or stabiliser, without either a viscosity drop or phase separation.

Test Formulations - Samples of Test Formulation 1 , 2 and 3 were made up as described below. The Samples are identified in the Application Examples as Fx.y (Formulation x; sample y). Formulation 1

Samples of a thermal smoothing serum (for treating hair, particularly thermally damaged hair) thickened with inverse emulsions of the invention and with mineral oil based inverse emulsion (C1 E) were made up as follows:

Material Commercial name Amount (wt.%)

Water 87.8

Hair treatment polymer MiruStyle XHP 5

PPG-3 Benzyl Ether Myristate Crodamol STS 1

Diisopropyl adipate Crodamol DA 1

Inverse emulsion 3

Silk amino acid derivative Crosilkquat 1

Propylene glycol 1

Preservative Nipaguard MPA 0.2 The inverse emulsion was diluted in the water and stirred until homogeneous; and the remaining ingredients were then added with stirring.

Formulation 2

Samples of a further thermal smoothing serum thickened were made up as follows:

Material Commercial name Amount (wt.%)

A Water 87.8

Hair treatment polymer MiruStyle XHP 5

Aqueous silk amino acids Crosilk Liquid 1

Propylene glycol 1

B Inverse Emulsion 3

C Preservative Nipaguard MPA 0.2

Crodamol STS 1

Crodamol DA 1 The A components were mixed and stirred until homogeneous; the inverse emulsion B was added with stirring; and the components C were then added with stirring.

Formulation 3

Samples of a facial moisturiser thickened with inverse emulsions of the invention and with mineral oil based inverse emulsion (C1 E ) were made up as follows: Material Commercial name Amount (wt.%)

Emulsifier (Steareth-21 ) Brij S721 2

Emulsifier (Steareth-2) Brij S2 2

Diisopropyl adipate Crodamol DA 2

Cholesterol/lanosterol esters Super Sterol Ester 5

2-Ethylhexyl palmitate Crodamol OP 2

Preservative propylparaben 0.15 Inverse Emulsion 2

Water 84.7

Preservative propylparaben 0.15

The oil phase A components were mixed, heated to 65 to 70°C and stirred until homogeneous; the inverse emulsion B was added with stirring; the water phase components C were separately mixed, heated to 65 to 70°C and stirred until homogeneous; the combined mix of components A and B was mixed with the water phase component mix C - for samples F3.1 and F3.3 the water phase was added to the oil phase with stirring and for sample F3.5 the oil phase was added to the water phase with stirring; and the overall mixture allowed to cool to ambient temperature with stirring.

Formulation 4

Samples of a facial moisturiser similar to Formulation 3 were made up using post addition of the thickener as follows:

Material Commercial name Amount (wt.%)

A Emulsifier Brij S721 2

Emulsifier Brij S2 2

Diisopropyl adipate Crodamol DA 2

Cholesterol/lanosterol esters Super Sterol Ester 5

2-Ethylhexyl palmitate Crodamol OP 2

Preservative propylparaben 0.15

B Water 84.7

Preservative methyl paraben 0.15

C Inverse Emulsion 2

The oil phase A components were mixed, heated to 65 to 70°C and stirred until homogeneous; the water phase components B were separately mixed, heated to 65 to 70°C and stirred until homogeneous; the oil phase was added to the water phase with stirring; the inverse emulsion was added with stirring; and the overall mixture allowed to cool to ambient temperature with stirring. Application Example AE1

Samples of Formulations 1 , 2, 3 and 4 (all OE samples) were subjected to Long Term Stability testing as described above and the results are set out in Table AE1 below.

Table AE1

Figure imgf000027_0001 Application Example AE2 The rheology of the polymer inverse emulsions of Example SE1 and SE1a after forming an aqueous dispersion (AD) by inversion on dilution with water to give a 2 wt.% copolymer concentration in the dispersion and after formulating the polymer in an oil in water emulsion formulation (OE) (Formulation 3 above) was assessed by the general method described above. These data were compared with results obtained using a conventional commercially available (mineral oil based) inverse emulsion polymer.

Table AE2

Figure imgf000027_0002 The aqueous dispersions are shear thinning, indicated by the substantial viscosity decrease under shear. The dispersions show a pattern for yield point, zero shear viscosity and Brookfield viscosity in that the dispersions using the copolymer of SE1a give the highest values with the conventional copolymer the lowest values. One contributor to this pattern is likely to be that the higher level of crosslinker used in SE1a gives a copolymer with higher molecular weight.

The emulsions made from the aqueous dispersions obtained by inverting the inverse co-polymer emulsions, show shear thinning, with signs of thixotropy at the highest shear values. Slippage was observed for all of the emulsions at high shear stress. The trend between the sample differed from that of the dispersions in that the copolymer of SE1a gave the highest yield stress and zero shear viscosity, but that of the copolymer of SE1 was somewhat lower than that of the conventional copolymer with the Brookfield viscosities of these two polymers being similar.

Application Example AE3

The stability of the emulsions was assessed as described above. The results, which show a substantial improvement in emulsion stability for the inverse emulsions of the invention, are set out in Table AE3 below:

Table AE3

Figure imgf000028_0001 Application Example AE4 This Example illustrates the inclusion of additional or secondary oil to diluted inverted emulsions. Dilute emulsions were made up at 2 wt.% thickening polymer on water. Secondary oil was added in stages and the Brookfield viscosity being measured until the emulsion became unstable. Three inverse emulsions were tested, one using mineral oil CIE1 , one using the direct polymerisation emulsion of SE2 (EOil 1 without any alkoxylated ester oil) designated SE2' and the inverse emulsion of SE2 (using a combination of EOiM and AOiH ). The results are set out in Table AE4 below and show that inverse emulsions of the invention can tolerate secondary oil significantly better than either mineral oil or conventional ester oils. The increase in viscosity noted above is also shown by these data. Table AE4

Figure imgf000029_0001 limit of stability on addition of secondary oil

Application Example AE5 The properties of inverse emulsion polymers was evaluated using 2 wt.% aqueous polymer solutions made by inverting samples of inverse emulsion polymers, in panel tests to detect sensorial differences between products. The samples used were made up using mineral oil based inverse emulsion CIE1 and one made with the inverse emulsion of SE2. Two panels were used:

■ A triangle panel test in which 15 panellists were presented with 3 samples (identified only by codes). Panellists were told that two samples were the same and one different. Skinfeel was evaluated and the panellists asked to identify the sample which felt different. In the test, 11 out of 15 panellists correctly identified the 'different' sample. ■ A separate panel of 12 people were subsequently asked to carry out a preference test between dispersions containing the inverse emulsion of SE2 and a one containing CIE1 by indicating whether and what preference they had between the two; considering attributes such as skin feel, absorption, rub-in time and pick-up. The majority of panellists preferred the emollient-containing LDP over mineral oil.

Application Example AE6

A Body Butter formulation including 30 wt.% oil was made up with an inverse emulsion of the invention using the following formulation:

Material Commercial name Amount (wt.%)

A Triethylhexanoin Crodamol GTEH 4

Diisopropyl Adipate Crodamol DA 2

Myristyl Lactate Crodamol ML 3

isostearyl isostearate Crodamol ISIS 5

Cocoa butter 7

Crodamazon „

Theobroma Grandiflorum oil

Cupuacu

Avocado Oil (including

Avocadin 2

unsaponifiables)

PPG-3 Benzyl Ether

Crodamol STS 4

Myristate

B Water 63

glycerine Pricerine 9091 4

Inverse Emulsion of SE2 2

C Preservative Euxyl K300 1 The emollient oil components A and the aqueous based components B were separately mixed with stirring and then combined with stirring, after which component C was stirred in.

This formulation illustrates substantial addition of secondary oil to produce a thickened personal care product having an overall 30 wt.% oil content.

It is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the details of the above embodiments, which are described by way of example only. Many variations are possible. All of the features described herein may be combined with any of the above aspects, in any combination.

청구 범위

  1. An inverse (water in oil) emulsion made by inverse emulsion polymerisation having a disperse aqueous phase comprising a solution or dispersion of at least one water soluble polymer, particularly a polymer that forms a viscous solution or dispersion in water, and a continuous oil phase which is or includes an ester oil including an alkoxylated alcohol group. The emulsion according to claim 1 , wherein the alkoxylated ester is selected from one or more of the following compounds either alone or in any combination: i) esters of long chain fatty acids and alkoxylated fatty aliphatic alcohols of the formula (I): R1-C(0)0(A01)n1R2 (I) wherein R is a C7 to C23 hydrocarbyl; each group AO1 is independently an alkyleneoxy group; n1 is from 1 to 15; R2 is a fatty aliphatic group; ii) diesters and/or triesters of aliphatic and/or aromatic dicarboxylic and/or tricarboxylic acids and fatty alkoxylated alcohols of the formula (II): Figure imgf000031_0001 wherein R3 is a C2 to C10 hydrocarbyl group; R4 is a fatty hydrocarbyl group; AO2 is an alkyleneoxy group; n2 is from 1 to 15; R5 is a group of the formula R60(0)C- where R6 is selected from H, a salt forming moiety, particularly an alkali metal or an amine, or a group (A02)n2R2 where AO2, n2 and R2 are as defined above; and m is equal to either 0 or 1 ; iii) esters of fatty carboxylic acids and polyalkoxylates of aromatic alcohols of the formula (III): R9O-(A03)n3-C(O)-R10 (III) wherein R9 is a group comprising an aromatic ring; R10 is a fatty alky(en)yl group; each group AO3 is independently selected from an alkyleneoxy group; and n3 is from 1 to 15. The emulsion according to claim 2, wherein the alkoxylated ester is one or more compound of the formulae (Ha) or (lib), or a combination thereof: CH2.C(0)-(OA2a)n2a-OR4a HO-C(OHOA2a)n2a-OR a I CH2.C(0)-R6a (lla) wherein each R4a is independently a group R4 as defined in formula (II) in claim 2; each OA2a is independently a group AO2 as defined in formula (II) in claim 2; each n2a is independently is from 1 to 15; and R6a is H selected from or a group (A02a)n2aR2a whereAO23, n2a and R2a are as defined above. R4b(OA2b)n2bO(0)C.CHR7-CHR7.C(0)-(OA2b)n2b-OR4b (lib) wherein each R4 is independently a group R4 as defined in formula (II) in claim 2; each OA b is independently a group AO2 as defined in formula (II) in claim 2; each n2b is independently is from 1 to 15; and each R7 is selected from H, Ci to C3o alkyl, or C2 to C3o alkenyl group, or together the two groups R7 represent a direct bond between the carbon atoms to which they are attached. According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of making inverse emulsion having a dispersed aqueous phase, said emulsion comprising: i) a solution or dispersion of at least one water soluble polymer, particularly a polymer that forms a viscous solution or dispersion in water; and ii) a continuous oil phase which is or includes an ester oil including an alkoxylated alcohol group, wherein said method comprises a) dispersing in an oil phase an aqueous solution of monomers, said monomers being polymerisable to form a water soluble or dispersible polymer, said oil phase comprising or consisting of at least one ester oil having an alkoxylated alcohol group; and b) polymerising said monomers to form a colloidal suspension of particles, of a solution or dispersion of the resulting polymer in water, in the oil. According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided an alternative method of making an inverse emulsion having a dispersed aqueous phase, said emulsion comprising: i) a solution or dispersion of at least one water soluble polymer, particularly a polymer that forms a viscous solution or dispersion in water; and ii) a continuous oil phase which is or includes an ester oil including an alkoxylated alcohol group, wherein said method comprises a) dispersing in an oil phase an aqueous solution of monomers, said monomers being polymerisable to form a water soluble or dispersible polymer; b) polymerising said monomers to form a colloidal suspension of particles, of a solution or dispersion of the resulting polymer in water, in the oil; and c) subsequently including in the emulsion at least one ester oil comprising an alkoxylated alcohol group. The method according to either claim 4 or claim 5, wherein the ester oil including an alkoxylated alcohol group is in the inverse emulsion by addition to a preformed emulsion or by partial or complete replacement of the oil in which the emulsion was made by the at least one ester oil including an alkoxylated alcohol group. A method of making a personal care emulsion which comprises diluting and inverting an inverse emulsion as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3 or made by a method as claimed in any one of claims 4 to 6 and, as required, including other components desired in the personal care product.
  2. The method according to claim 7, wherein additional oil is included in the diluted inverted emulsion.
  3. A Personal Care product in the form of an emulsion having an aqueous continuous phase and one or more disperse phases, including an emollient oil phase, which comprise an inverse (water in oil) emulsion as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3, or an inverse (water in oil) emulsion made by the method as claimed in any of claims 4 to 8.
  4. A method of making a Personal Care emulsion which comprises inverting an inverse (water in oil) emulsion in the presence of water, in particular by diluting the inverse emulsion with or in water, said inverse emulsion being an emulsion as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3, or made by the method as claimed in any of claims 4 to 8.


Posted by 겨울소나기

http://www.pcimag.com/articles/print/83559-self-crosslinking-polymeric-dispersants-used-in-emulsion-polymerization

Acrylic dispersions have found widespread use in modern coatings technology. Their excellent durability makes them suitable for indoor and outdoor decorative paints, and they can be formulated into high-resistance coatings for industrial uses.

Several properties are important for high-performance coatings, including the following.

  • Hardness and scratch resistance
  • Anti blocking (for stacking recently coated substrates)
  • Resistance against household chemicals and grease
  • Outdoor durability and UV resistance
  • Flexibility and toughness**

These properties can be controlled by several parameters in acrylic dispersion design, such as controlled particle morphology, polymer backbone compositions, polymer Tgs and the use of crosslinking. Additionally, the film formation process needs to be controlled, since good performance can only be achieved from waterborne dispersions after good film formation and entanglement of the polymer chains across the particle interfaces. Conventional acrylic dispersions contain surfactants used for stabilization of the polymer particles. Generally, these surfactants negatively affect the desired application properties, especially resistance properties and outdoor durability, which are very dependent on surfactants. Surfactants are sometimes referred to as "necessary evils" in acrylic dispersions.1

Figure 1 / Surfactant Migration

Surfactants in Emulsion Polymerization


Surfactants play a crucial role in emulsion polymerization. They are required for emulsification of the monomers, formation of micelles as polymerization loci and colloidal stabilization of the polymer particles. In addition, surfactants reduce the surface tension of the resulting dispersion, which is required for wetting of a substrate and for film formation. With surfactants, dispersions can be formulated into a coating because the surfactants will help avoid destabilization of the dispersion with the addition of formulation components. In fact, they may even be an aid to effective mixing of these components and the dispersion. Surfactants are, in most cases, water soluble and mobile components in the film. They have a tendency to cluster together or migrate (see Figure 1), either to the film-air interface or the film-substrate interface.1 In Figure 2, surfactant exudation to the surface of an acrylic dispersion film is shown, where the exuded surfactant crystallized at the polymer air interface. The surfactants can in this way seriously affect the water sensitivity of the film, as well as the adhesion characteristics.

Surfactants that remain on the interfaces of the polymer particles will create hydrophilic channels through the film, which may cause undesirable effects such as water transport through the film to the substrate.

Several options have been studied to reduce the negative effects of surfactants while maintaining the positive aspects, such as the use of copolymerizable surfactants1-2 and polymeric surfactants. Copolymerizable surfactants will be chemically bound to the polymer particles and cannot migrate through the film or to the surface freely. As a result, films from acrylic dispersions prepared with copolymerizable surfactants should have better water resistance and adhesion properties.

There are, however, some issues associated with the use of copolymerizable surfactants. The reactive groups of these surfactants are often not of the same reactivity as the reactive groups of the monomers used, which may lead to poor incorporation or homopolymerization of the surfactants in the water phase. On the other hand, if incorporation is good the resulting dispersion can have high surface tension because there is no free surfactant left, which impairs wetting, leveling and formulation of the dispersion. To promote good copolymerization with the acrylic monomers, the reactive group of the surfactant should be in the hydrophobe of the surfactant, and such surfactants are hardly commercially available.


Figure 2 / AFM Image of Exudation of Surfactant from an Acrylic Dispersion Film Left is the height, right is the phase image Alternatively, polymeric surfactants can be used.3 These are much less mobile than conventional surfactants and are usually very strongly absorbed to the particle surface because of their multiplicity of hydrophobes. Again, they will not easily form clusters or migrate to the surface of a film. These polymeric surfactants can be prepared by a variety of methods including bulk polymerization, suspension polymerization or emulsion polymerization. It is also possible to prepare surfactant-free acrylic dispersions, which are solely stabilized by the anionic initiator (persulphate) end groups,4 but in general only low-solids systems can be prepared this way. The solids can be raised by adding ionic monomers, but generally the resulting systems have low tolerance toward the addition of formulating component.

Another route to obtaining surfactant-free dispersions is the preparation of self-dispersing polymers in organic solvents, which are subsequently dispersed into water.5 After dispersing, the organic solvents are distilled off to yield a secondary dispersion or artificial latex. Here the dispersing groups are usually acid groups that have been neutralized to salts by the addition of an amine. The ionized polymers have molecular weights of 10K-50K, are surface active and are known to be useful in the stabilization of hydrophobic polymers. In this case, core-shell particle morphologies are created where the ionized polymer forms the shell, and the hydrophobic polymer forms the core of the particle. The ionized polymer in this case functions as the stabilizer for the hydrophobic core.

Upon film formation of such secondary dispersions, the matrix of the film will consist of the ionized polymers and hydrophobic particles are dispersed in this matrix. Since the ionized polymers are usually low in molecular weight and contain fairly high levels of copolymerized and ionized acid, the matrix of the film will tend to be the weakest part of the system with regard to sensitivity to water and toughness of the film. The low molecular weight of the ionized polymers will aid the coalescence process and entanglement of the polymer chains to build up strength in the film.

Figure 3 / Film Formation of Acrylic Dispersions

Film Formation


Proper film formation6 is crucial to achieve a good performance of the final film. The film formation process can be divided in several stages7-8 (see Figure 3) where the entanglement step especially will determine the final properties. During the entanglement process, the interface between initially separate particles will gradually fade away. The strength of the film, both in mechanical and in resistance terms, will increase during the entanglement process.

Acrylic dispersions generally have very high molecular weights, much higher than conventional solventborne polymers, such as alkyds. This is beneficial for the overall film properties, but makes the entanglement step very slow. The buildup of properties in acrylic dispersion films may, therefore, take days or even longer. In some cases, optimal film formation is never achieved because the coalescents that keep the polymers mobile evaporate before entanglement is complete.

Especially high-Tg and high-molecular-weight acrylic dispersions can achieve very good application properties, but for good film formation, high levels of coalescents are required. With the ongoing drive toward more environmentally friendly coatings, the aim is to reduce this coalescent demand further with zero VOCs as the ultimate goal. In recent years, several options have been investigated and published aimed at combining the good properties of high-Tg polymer backbones with good film formation.

One method is the use of a very hydrophilic acid and, in some cases, low-molecular-weight polymer backbone. If a sufficient amount of acrylic or methacrylic acid is incorporated into the backbone, these dispersions can be either alkaline soluble or alkaline swellable.9-10 In both cases, the minimum film formation temperature (MFT) and the coalescent demand are significantly reduced. To maintain a workable balance between viscosity and solids content, low-molecular-weight polymers or oligomers are used. Since low-molecular-weight polymers are not very water- and chemical-resistant, and hydrophilic backbone polymers have poor water resistance, they are often combined with some form of crosslinking after or during film formation. Clearly the poor resistance properties are the most important drawback of this approach.

Applying Crosslinking to Improve Chemical Resistance

While good MFT-hardness balance can be achieved with hydrophilic oligomers, this approach has the disadvantage of inferior chemical resistance. This can be overcome by post crosslinking the low-molecular-weight polymer. Crosslinking can be effective in two ways: chemical reaction between polymer chains following interdiffusion and crosslinking at the interfaces of the particles. In the first case, a coherently formed film is fixed and the molecular weight of the chains present in this film is increased. In the second case, two particles are chemically bound by crosslinking during or just after film formation. Formation of a chemical link between particles has a similar effect on properties, such as entanglement between polymer chains, but can take place on a much shorter time scale. A variety of crosslinking reactions have been described in past years. There are so-called two-component crosslinking systems where one of the crosslinking components is added just before application of the dispersion. More desirable for this work are self-crosslinking (one-pot) systems where all reactive components are present and long-term storage stable. The crosslinking reaction can be triggered by the evaporation of water upon drying, a change of pH, or by curing at elevated temperature, where the crosslinking reaction is faster, or reactive groups are de-blocked. Examples of suitable crosslinking systems are the reaction of amines with epoxy functionality11 where either can be on the polymer backbone, the auto-oxidation of incorporated fatty acid groups,12-13 the self condensation of alkoxy-silane functionality,14 the self condensation of n-methylolacrylamide,15-16 metal-ion co-ordination with backbone functional groups such as acetoacetoxy15 groups or acid groups, and the reaction of acetoacetoxy groups with amines17-18 or acetoacetoxy groups with unsaturated groups in a Michael reaction.19

Results and Discussion

This article discusses the use of polymeric self-crosslinking dispersants for the preparation of surfactant-free acrylic dispersions20 with a core shell morphology. The core consists of normal high-molecular-weight hydrophobic acrylic polymer. One purpose of the shell is to stabilize the core against flocculation and coagulation. To do this, the shell is made up from high-Tg hydrophilic alkaline-soluble polymer chains that are modified with hydrophobic components to make them highly surface active (such polymers will be referred to as polymeric dispersants).

Figure 4 / Surface Activity of Various Polymers vs. Concentration

Polymeric Self-Crosslinking Surfactant


Figure 4 compares the surface tension of aqueous solutions of such polymeric dispersants to polymethacrylic acid and a commercially available hydrophilic alkaline soluble acrylic oligomer and a commercially available styrene-acrylic acid oligomer. As can be observed, at very low concentration the surface tension of the polymeric dispersant solution is quickly reduced and equilibrates. The final surface tension is approximately 43 mN/m, while for polymethacrylic acid this is >60 mN/m. This is likely caused by the multiple hydrophobic groups that a polymeric dispersant contains, which causes the polymer chain to stretch along the surface of the air water interface. The figure shows that using a commercially available hydrophilic alkaline polymer is far less effective in reducing the surface tension.

To demonstrate that the self-crosslinking polymeric dispersants are effective stabilizers for the preparation of acrylic dispersions, a REACT-IR experiment was performed. The REACT-IR probe detects small particle size (monomer swollen) particles and water-dissolved monomers. Large monomer droplets are outside the detection range of the REACT-IR probe. Monomer is added to a solution of self-crosslinking polymeric dispersant in which the probe is immersed.


Figure 5 / React-IR Reaction Plot and Profile Showing the Excellent Emulsification Properties of the Self-Crosslinking Acrylic

Polymeric Dispersant

Figure 5 shows that the IR peaks from the monomer appear and grow during a period of about 10 minutes after addition of the monomers, after which equilibrium is reached. (In the left plot the peaks at a wave number around 1200. This same peak is plotted in intensity vs. time on the right. Some baseline shift will occur due to temperature variations during the reaction.) The change in this peak indicates that monomer is being absorbed into the self-crosslinking polymeric dispersant aggregates until equilibrium is reached.

A visual check at this stage confirms that no large monomer droplets remain, and all monomer isemulsified. When initiator is added at this point conversion of the monomer is almost instantaneous, with a large temperature exotherm. This is especially clear in the intensity vs. time plot on the right. This suggests that the polymerization mechanism has strong resemblance to that of a mini emulsion polymerization.


Figure 6 / React-IR Reaction Plot of SLS and Monomer

The resulting dispersion is stable and generally has a very low particle size, which confirms that these self-crosslinking polymeric surfactants are efficient stabilizers. For comparison, a similar REACT-IR experiment was done with sodium lauryl sulphate as the surfactant (see Figure 6), and also with a commercially available styrene-acrylic acid oligomer as the stabilizer (see Figure 7).

Figure 6 does not show a monomer peak, nor does any reaction take place after addition of the initiator. This can be explained by the stirring of the experiment, which is done by a simple flat-blade stirrer at low rpm. While this method of stirring was adequate for emulsification of all monomer when the self-crosslinking polymeric dispersant was used, it proves insufficient for proper emulsification of the monomer by SLS. Visually the reaction mixture does not become white or milky, but stays a bit gray with clear inhomogenity. With this kind of inhomogenity it is clear that no small monomer droplets will be created.


The emulsification is so poor that even when radicals are formed only the very small amount of monomer dissolved in the water phase will react, but due to insufficient transport of monomer the reaction does not proceed. In the experiment with the commercially available styrene-acrylic acid oligomer again no monomer peak is observed (see Figure 7), indicating that no small monomer swollen particles are formed.

Figure 7 / React-IR Reaction Plot and Profile of Styrene-Acrylic Acid Oligomer and Monomer The dispersion appears to be more milky than the SLS experiment, indicating that some monomer emulsion droplets have been formed. Upon addition of the initiator, a monomer peak appears and starts to slowly decay as it is being converted into polymer, indicating a normal emulsion polymerization that is rate limited by transport of monomer. A polymer peak is formed at the same time the monomer peak appears, and this peak slowly gains in intensity, clearly indicating that monomer swollen polymer particles are present.

The reaction mixture still has a gray texture, indicating that a lot of poorly emulsified monomer isstill present. Reaction is slow and about half of the monomer is converted in 30 minutes. Another addition of initiator restarts the reaction with the same slow conversion rate. Apparently the styrene-acrylic acid oligomer is a bit more effective as a stabilizer than sodium lauryl sulphate and does give some emulsification with this poor stirring, but no very small emulsified droplets are formed, and the reaction is very slow and with low conversion.

Figure 8 / TEM Image of a Dispersion Based on a Self-Crosslinking Polymeric Surfactant

Figure 8 / TEM Image of a Dispersion Based on a Self-Crosslinking Polymeric Surfactant 

From these comparative experiments it must be concluded that the self-crosslinking polymeric dispersant has a remarkable emulsification power, when compared to conventional surfactant or commercially available and commonly used surface active oligomers. Even at inefficient stirring sub-micron monomer emulsion droplets are created that react at very high rates when initiator is added. To verify that a core shell structure is obtained, the dispersion was analyzed with TEM. The self-crosslinking polymeric dispersant was modified so it could be selectively stained vs. the core polymer. Figure 8 shows that the stained self-crosslinking polymeric dispersant (the dark colored material) is present in the particle shell and in the water phase.


Figure 9 / Film Formation of Core Shell Particle

The Effect on Film Formation

This hard hydrophilic self-crosslinking polymeric dispersant will have good film formation since it is an alkaline-soluble polymer. Entanglement, however, is not applicable in the self-crosslinking polymeric dispersants, since their molecular weights are just below the entanglement Mw. Consequently, a very fast mixing of the low-Mw hard hydrophilic polymeric dispersant will occur. This is then followed by a crosslinking reaction leading to a crosslinked continuous hard phase containing discontinues soft domains. The formation of crosslinks at the particle interface will give an even better buildup of film strength as polymer chain entanglement would, and generally at a much shorter time scale. By focusing crosslinking at the particle interface it is used most effectively. Many of the crosslinking techniques are expensive, and should be used efficiently. Precrosslinking should be avoided as much as possible, since this will negatively affect entanglement during film formation.

Alkaline-soluble systems on their own generally lack sufficient resistance properties to be useful. To overcome this problem, we have used the polymeric dispersants as stabilizers in a subsequent emulsion polymerization. This way, core shell particles are created that have the polymeric dispersant as the shell, and a high-molecular-weight resistant polymer in the core (see Figure 9).

Table 1 Relatively small quantities of polymeric stabilizer are required for effective stabilization of the core. By introducing the same self-crosslinking mechanism in the core polymer, performance of the system can be upgraded even further. Now not only the polymeric dispersant crosslinks with itself to form a crosslinked matrix in the resulting film, but this matrix is also grafted onto the resistant high-Mw cores of the particles. This effect is demonstrated in Table 1. As can be observed, crosslinking of the core polymer alone has no effect on the hardness MFT balance, compared to no crosslinking at all. If just the polymeric dispersant is self-crosslinking the hardness MFT balance is improved. But the best result is achieved if both the polymer and the polymeric dispersant crosslink.

Figure 10 / Film Morphology In effect, a core shell polymer with a film forming hard shell polymer and a high Mw, resistant core is created, where the hard component will form the matrix of the film and will then crosslink with itself and the core polymer (see Figure 10). Both the core and the shell will contribute to the overall hardness, toughness, and resistance of the final film. No surfactant will be used and hence no surfactant exudation will take place (see Figure 11) and no hydrophilic channels to the film can be created.

Figure 11 / AFM Image of a Film Cast from a Dispersion Containing Polymeric Dispersant Left is height, right is phase image The right photo in Figure 11 is a phase image of a film cast from a dispersion containing a self-crosslinking polymeric dispersant, which was recorded in AFM tapping mode. The light areas represent hard material and the soft areas represent soft material. It can be observed that the surface of the film is mainly hard material, which confirms that the surface of the film is covered with the polymeric crosslinked dispersant. This is beneficial for hardness and anti-blocking. In the left photo, the height differences are depicted, and it can be seen that the surface it quite smooth, and individual particles can no longer be observed, which confirms that film formation was efficient.

Table 2

Film Formation and Properties of Model Dispersions

In the system under investigation there are several design parameters that can be adjusted to optimize application properties.

  • Ratio between shell material and core material
  • Tg of both phases
  • Hydrophilicity of the core
  • Acid value of the shell phase

The effects of these parameters on film formation characteristics, surface hardness and blocking properties were investigated. The Tg of the high-molecular-weight core and the ratio between high Tg shell and the core obviously affected surface hardness (see Table 2).

Table 3 From the first two entries, the Tg of the core has a huge effect on surface hardness and MFT. Both these effects are, however, reduced on increase of the shell:core ratio to 1:1. It is apparent that for a system comprising equal amounts of core and shell material, the continuous hard phase will determine the hardness, whereas the Tg of the core has no influence on this property. The advantage of a low-Tg core lies in a reduction of the MFT and hence reduced cosolvent demand for good film formation. The acid value did not have a significant effect on surface hardness (see Table 3), which can be expected since the effect of the difference in acid concentration on theoretical Tg was compensated for by other monomers. Since the acid concentration will influence the degree at which water can act as a plasticizer, it is expected to affect the MFT of these emulsions.

Table 4 While the surface hardness values seem to be independent of acid value, MFT was indeed affected by the acid value. Especially at high shell:core ratio (entries 7 and 8) MFT was significantly reduced with increasing acid value while maintaining good surface hardness. This can partly be explained with increasing water plastization and partly by taking into account that at higher shell:core ratio smaller particles will be formed. It is well known that smaller particles tend to give lower MFTs than larger particles with the same composition. While particle sizes for the polymer emulsions with a shell:core ratio of 1:4 were found to be in the range of 250-400 nm, at a shell:core ratio of 1:1 the particle size were between 40 and 70 nm. Entry 7 yielded a very good balance between MFT and surface hardness, 15 deg C and 121, respectively. Reducing the acid value of the shell led to a marginal decrease in surface hardness while the MFT increased with 20 deg C.

These results show that shell:core ratio, Tg of the high-molecular-weight core, and acid value of the shell can be useful tools to control the balance between film formation on the one hand and film properties on the other.

For most applications, anti-blocking is a required property. Normally, an easy way of introducing anti-blocking is to increase the Tg of the film, which will cause poor film formation properties. For our model emulsions with a shell:core ratio of 1:1 good film formation could be combined with excellent blocking properties. In Table 4 blocking properties of model emulsions are shown as a function of chemical composition of the core. For both core compositions very good blocking and early blocking results were obtained. Interestingly, these good blocking properties were obtained for films containing 50% by weight of very low Tg material. Table 4 shows that at these low core Tgs good surface hardness properties were found and acceptable MFT's. Especially the polymer having a core containing methyl methacrylate gave a very interesting set of properties, with an MFT of only 15 deg C, high surface hardness and excellent blocking properties.

Table 5

Application in High-Performance Coatings

Variation of the design parameters can have a big impact on the application properties. When the design is optimized for application in industrial wood coatings the following properties can be achieved (see Table 5). Because of the absence of surfactant the system will be low foaming. The dispersion has a very low particle size, which results in excellent film formation and high transparency. An additional benefit of the low particle size is the almost translucent optical appearance of the binder, which is comparable to traditional solventborne coatings. Also wood wetting, which is an important property for industrial wood coatings, is excellent. This is caused by the good wetting potential of the self-crosslinking polymeric dispersant and the small particle size of the latex, which makes penetration into wood pores efficient. By modifying some of the design parameters, a surfactant-free self-crosslinking acrylic dispersion for joinery can be created. In this application, flexibility is of importance combined with good anti-blocking properties (see Table 6). For achieving good outdoor durability the coating will have to be flexible enough to compensate for the changing wood dimensions, which are weather dependent. The coatings need to be fast drying and should be applicable by a variety of application techniques, such as spraying and dipping. Again these dispersions have a very low particle size and the desired translucent appearance.

Table 6-7

These coatings can be formulated and pigmented, and will still retain all properties. When formulated at 18% PVC the flexibility is still >80%, which is sufficient to achieve good outdoor durability. The dispersions based on self-crosslinking polymeric dispersants can also readily be used as binders for high-performance inks. The alkaline-soluble polymeric dispersant provides good reversibility to the system, a key property for use in inks. When the ink is dried further and crosslinking will take place the final ink will be highly resistant even to ammonia, where for conventional inks this is commonly an issue. The core shell morphology provides the combination of good block resistance combined with very high flexibility, which makes these systems also very useful for application on flexible substrates such as PE films. An added advantage is that these dispersions have excellent adhesion properties to treated PE film, even after prolonged water exposure. The self-crosslinking polymeric dispersant provides very good wetting properties to various substrates, and makes high pigment loadings possible to give high-strength inks. High-solids systems (55-60% solids) can be prepared with this technology that have the benefit of very fast drying. Table 7 shows some of the properties that can be achieved in an ink binder based on this technology.

While in this article the focus has been on high-Tg shells and low-Tg cores, the use of low-Tg shells combined with high Tg cores can also lead to very interesting systems for a variety of end uses.

Conclusion

Self-crosslinking polymeric dispersants are efficient stabilizers for use in emulsions polymerization, giving good wetting properties and paint formulation stability to the resulting polymer dispersion. Contrary to conventional surfactants, they do not foam or migrate through the final film - two very beneficial features. When high-Tg self-crosslinking polymeric dispersants are used for the preparation of a core/shell polymer where the shell contains the self-crosslinking polymeric dispersant stabilizing a hydrophobic high-Mw core polymer, a very good MFT/hardness balance can be achieved. Here the self-crosslinking polymeric dispersant brings high performance to the coating, forming the crosslinked matrix where a conventional surfactant would only degrade the properties of the coating. Because of their superb film forming properties combined with crosslinking features the resulting core/shell dispersions require little or no coalescent, and yet give excellent film formation, hardness, anti-blocking and resistances against chemicals, making such dispersion very useful for high performance coating and ink applications.21

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank Danny Visser, Harriet van der Sande, Dorina van Haeringen, Anton Peters Marc Roelands and Guru Satguru for their contributions to this work. This article won an Outstanding Paper Award at the 2002 International Waterborne, High Solids, and Powder Coatings Symposium in New Orleans. Symposium sponsored by The University of Southern Mississippi Department of Polymer Science.

For more information on dispersants, contact NeoResins, Sluisweg 12, PO Box 123 5140AC, Waalwijk, The Netherlands; or visit www.NeoResins.com.

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  21. 21 This technology is protected by several patents, owned by NeoResins.


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