Process of preparing a polymer of acrylonitrile

Claim 1

THE PROCESS OF PREPARING WHITE POLYMERS OF ACRYLONITRILE WHICH COMPRISES CONTINUOUSLY FEEDING INTO A REACTION ZONE MONOMERIC MATERIAL SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF ACRYLONITRILE AND MIXTURES CONTAINING AT LEAST 85% ACRYLONITRILE AND THE BALANCE BEING A DIFFERENT ETHYLENICALLY UNSATURATED ADDITION MONOMER COPOLYMERIZABLE THEREWITH AT THE RATE OF 20% TO 55% BY WEIGHT BASED ON THE TOTAL FEED, A BISULFITE ACTIVATOR AND A PERSULFATE CATALYST, THE ACTIVATOR BEING PRESENT IN THE AMOUNT OF AT LEAST ABOUT 10 PARTS BY WEIGHT BASED ON THE TOTAL FEED FROM 0.02% TO 0.5% BY WEIGHT BASED ON THE TOTAL FEED OF A SURFACTANT, AND MAINTAINING THE REACTION ZONE UNDER POLYMERIZING CONDITIONS WITH A TOTAL POLYMER SOLIDS CONTENT BETWEEN ABOUT 18% TO 50% BASED ON THE TOTAL WEIGHT OF THE REACTION MIXTURE, THE SAID REACTION MIXTURE BEING A THIN POURABLE SLURRY AT 45*C., THE SAME MIXTURE AT 45*C. WITHOUT THE SURFACTANT BEING A THICK NON-POURABLE SLURRY, THE PRODUCT OF THE PRECENT MONOMER FEED, PERCENT CONVERSION, AND PERCENT COMBINED ACTIVATOR AND CATALYST SALTS BASED ON THE WEIGHT OF THE TOTAL FEED BEING EQUAL NUMERICALLY TO AT LEAST 1000.