Monomer Transport via Collision in Emulsion Polymerization

One of the questions still remaining regarding emulsion polymerization is the issue of mass transfer versus reaction limitation since, by its nature, emulsion polymerization requires monomer transport across an aqueous phase. This question is brought into focus lately by the growing use of miniemulsion polymerization in which the monomer transport step is much less important. This paper will explore the possible rate of monomer transport via collision and ratio this to the maximum rate of polymerization using the Damkohler analysis formality. Results indicate that systems relying on monomer transport by collision will be almost universally monomer-transport-limited, thus exhibiting lower-than-expected rates of polymerizations.