Method for Determining Process Conditions to Remove Volatile Organic Compounds From Polymer

• US 20200129920A1
• Filed: 04/23/2018
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Chem Limited (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Chem Limited (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Park, Je Seob, Park, Won Chan, Choi, Jae Hoon
• Granted Patent: US 11,666,858 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 2257/708 Volatile organic compounds V.O.C.'s
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 53/025 with wetted adsorbents; Chromatography analytical chromatography G01N30/00 - G01N30/96; for liquids B01D15/08
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 53/30 Controlling by gas-analysis apparatus regulating non electrical variables in general G05D
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 13/00 Investigating surface or boundary effects, e.g. wetting power; Investigating diffusion effects; Analysing materials by determining surface, boundary, or diffusion effects scanning-probe techniques or apparatus G01Q
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2013/003 Diffusion; diffusivity between liquids
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2030/025 Gas chromatography
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 30/8675 Evaluation, i.e. decoding of the signal into analytical information for analysis of specific compounds see also G01N30/88 and subgroups of G01N33/00; chemical libraries per se C40B
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/0047 for organic compounds
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2111/10 Numerical modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/20 Design optimisation, verification or simulation optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30
• CPC Class Codes: G16C 20/10 Analysis or design of chemical reactions, syntheses or processes
• CPC Class Codes: G16C 60/00 Computational materials science, i.e. ICT specially adapted for investigating the physical or chemical properties of materials or phenomena associated with their design, synthesis, processing, characterisation or utilisation

Abstract

The present application relates to a method for determining process conditions to remove volatile organic compounds from a polymer product through blowing. According to the method of the present application, time and energy can be saved.

Claims

1. A method for determining process conditions to remove volatile organic compounds from a polymer by blowing a gas, comprising:

calculating a diffusion coefficient (D) and an equilibrium constant (K) of the polymer; and

simulating a process of removing the volatile organic compounds based on the calculated diffusion coefficient and equilibrium constant.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein an amount of volatile organic compounds is measured in a headspace of a container storing the polymer, and the diffusion coefficient (D) and the equilibrium constant (K) are calculated from the measured value.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the amount of volatile organic compounds is measured in an equilibrium state of a system defined by the sealed container containing the polymer.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the diffusion coefficient (D) is calculated using the following relation equation 1 and the following formula:

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the equilibrium constant (K) is calculated using the following relation equation 2:

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein the amount of volatile organic compounds is measured using gas chromatography.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the diffusion coefficient (D) and the equilibrium constant (K) are measured or calculated at a plurality of temperatures, respectively.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein it is assumed that the simulating is a simulation of a process that a gas is blown into a silo, in which a polymer is loaded and stored at a predetermined height, for a predetermined time, the silo is equally divided into n layers containing the polymer of the same loading height and the gas flows from the first layer to the n-th layer sequentially.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein for each of the n-equally divided layers, energy balance and material balance are calculated from the first layer to the n-th layer sequentially.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the simulating comprises:

inputting an initial value;

firstly, using an energy balance calculation between a polymer and a blowing gas present in the n-th layer to calculate a changed temperature of the polymer and a changed temperature of the blowing gas;

secondly, calculating an amount of volatile organic compounds discharged from the polymer present in the n-th layer; and

thirdly, calculating an amount of the volatile organic compounds moving from the inside of the polymer present in the n-th layer to the surface of the polymer.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the initial value comprises the equilibrium constant (K) and the diffusion coefficient (D).

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the initial value further comprises one or more selected from the group consisting of a size of a polymer, mass of a polymer, specific heat of a polymer, density of a polymer, a temperature of a blowing gas, a flow rate of a blowing gas, specific heat of a blowing gas, a blowing time of a gas, a loading height of a polymer in a silo, a temperature of a polymer, a number of layers in the divided silo, an amount of volatile organic compounds contained in a polymer and a size of a silo.

13. The method according to claim 10, wherein the calculating the amount of volatile organic compounds discharged from the polymer present in the n-th layer is calculated based on the equilibrium constant (K) and the third step is calculated based on the diffusion coefficient (D).

14. The method according to claim 10, wherein the amount of volatile organic compounds that the polymer present in each layer has on its surface or the change thereof is calculated as the blowing time elapses.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising a step of evaluating validity of an input initial value and determining process conditions based on the calculated amount of the volatile organic compounds or the change thereof.