Monitoring Polymerization Kinetics in Microreactors by Confocal Raman Microscopy

On‐line monitoring of polymerization reactions in microreactors is investigated by confocal Raman microscopy (CRM). Two different types of experiments are carried out: solution polymerizations and miniemulsion polymerizations. The solution polymerization experiments are performed with either styrene or butyl acrylate (BA) monomers, while toluene is used as solvent in both cases. BA is the only monomer used in the miniemulsion polymerizations. Conversion is determined by CRM for different residence times and the results are compared with the ones obtained gravimetrically. The good agreement achieved in all the experiments demonstrates that CRM is an appropriate technique to on‐line monitoring the kinetics of polymerizations performed in microreactors.