Recycle control system for continuous polymerization

Claim 1

Apparatus for controlling the material balance and the weight fraction of polymer in a reactor, said apparatus comprising in combination: A. a variable fillage reactor means for the continuous polymerization of monomer to produce a fluid product comprising a mixture of unreacted material and polymer, B. a separator means for continuous physical separation of unreacted material from said mixture, C. a valve means for controlling monomer feed flow rate at a predetermined constant value into said reactor means, D. flow rate regulating means, including a first pump means and conduit means, functionally interconnecting said reactor means with said separator means to regulate the quantity of said mixture fed to said separator means from said reactor means in response to a signal fed thereto, E. flow rate measuring means functionally interconnected with said separator means to measure the quantity of unreacted material so separated from said mixture in said separator means and to generate a flow rate signal representative thereof, said unreacted material being taken from said separator and fed to said flow rate measuring means by a second pump means, F. signal generating means to generate a prechosen set signal, G. flow rate control means to compare said flow rate signal with said prechosen set signal and to generate an output signal representative of any difference between said flow rate signal and said prechosen set signal, and H. signal interconnecting means functionally joining said signal generating means with said flow rate control means, said flow rate measuring means with said flow rate control means, and said flow rate control means with said flow rate regulating means, whereby the quantity of said mixture so fed to said separator means from said reactor means contains a predetermined quantity of unreacted material.