Table Of ContentMANUFACfURE AND PROCESSING OF PVC
MANUFACTURE AND
PROCESSING OF PVC
Edited by
R. H. BURGESS
Senior Research Chemist, PVC Research,
Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd, Plastics Division,
Bessemer Road, Welwyn Garden City, Herts., UK
~ Taylor & Francis
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LONDON AND NEW YORK
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Manufacture and processing of pvc.
I. Polyvinyl chloride
I. Burgess, R. H.
668.4 237 TP118.V48
ISBN 0-85334-972-X
WITH 28 TABLES AND 100 ILLUSTRATIONS
©APPLIED SCIENCE PUBLISHERS LTD 1982
Reprinted 1986
Transferred to Digital Printing 2005
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FOREWORD
In my long period of intimate involvement with the PVC industry I have
seen the business expand from its small beginnings to the world-wide
business of today. Much important research work was carried out in the
early days laying the foundations for the sophisticated control of particle
type both of the suspension and mass types of PVC and in emulsion
polymerisation which is such a feature of the business today. Perhaps in no
other large scale plastic are the physical forms in which the polymer powder
can be produced (as opposed to the detailed chemical structure of the
molecule) of such importance; and it is this feature which makes the
interaction between what happens in the polymerisation vessel and the
subsequent use of the polymer so crucial. The industry faced its most
serious challenge in the early 1970s with the discovery of a link between
exposure to vinyl chloride and a rare form of liver cancer. Its vigorous
response to that challenge is a model for the way in which these problems
should be tackled, and its successful outcome has ensured the continued
growth of the business. The pace of change of the manufacturing process, in
the understanding of the processes involved in converting raw PVC to the
final article and in the processing equipment itself, remains high with new
markets still being developed. All these factors are discussed in this book
which has been written by five ICI colleagues who have worked with me for
many years. I believe it represents a very fair and up-to-date view of the state
of the art.
A. W. BARNES
Formerly ICI Plastics PVC
Director and Chairman of
CIA and European CEFIC
Committees on VCM Toxicity
v
PREFACE
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) has been produced commercially for 50 years but
most of the expansion has taken place since the end of the 1939-45 War.
From its early beginning in Germany the market has grown to the present
12 million tonnes per year worth £5 billion a year in turnover. It is
manufactured by over 70 major companies in more than 30 countries. In
turn each of these 70 manufacturers may have up to 100 customers who
fabricate articles from PVC many of whom are themselves part of large
organisations. The growth of this large market and the involvement of
many major companies has stimulated much development work over the
years on the manufacturing process, on the product produced and on its
subsequent fabrication. For example, a typical manufacturer may have up
to 100 or more technically qualified people working on various ways of
improving the production and subsequent processing of PVC. Such a large
effort has led to important advances in the technologies employed in the
processes used to produce PVC and in the ways in which it is subsequently
converted to the final article.
ICI have been manufacturing PVC in the UK for approximately 40 years
and throughout most of this period have developed their technology in
close collaboration with Solvay, the leading continental European
producer. Outside Europe, through subsidiary/associate companies and
licensing arrangements, the ICI/Solvay technology is also being operated in
the USA, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, South Africa and Turkey.
Consequently within the ICI organisation there is knowledge of the PVC
industry world-wide.
FiYe experts from ICI with experience ranging from 12 to 30 years in the
business have contributed 10 chapters to this book covering the essential
features of the major polymerisation processes for the production of PVC,
vii
viii PREFACE
including random and graft copolymers and blends of PVC with special
resin and rubber additives. Particular attention is given to the so-called
stripping step in the process, i.e. the effective removal of unreacted vinyl
chloride-today a mandatory requirement. The important features of the
subsequent processing of PVC resin to the final articles of commerce with
which we are all familiar are also covered and the importance of the
morphology of the PVC resin particle in this subsequent processing
discussed.
We are particularly grateful to Rhone-Poulenc, who contributed to the
chapter on the bulk process for making PVC as this is not within ICI's direct
experience. Thus, this book contains in one volume the essential features of
the technology of the PVC industry, including the most up-to-date thinking
on the different established manufacturing processes and the subsequent
fabrication of PVC into finished articles.
The authors are grateful to ICI for permission to publish the information
in the book and to J. H. Wilson who read the manuscript and made many
useful suggestions which have been incorporated into the text.
R. H. BURGESS
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
M. W. ALLSOPP, A.P.I., M.Sc.
Senior Research Chemist, PVC Research, Imperial Chemical
Industries Limited, Plastics Division, Bessemer Road, Welwyn Garden
City, Herts AL7 1HD, UK.
R. H. BURGESS, B.Sc., Ph.D.
Senior Research Chemist, PVC Research, Imperial Chemical
Industries Limited, Plastics Division, Bessemer Road, Welwyn Garden
City, Herts AL7 1HD, UK.
D. E. M. EvANS, B.Sc., Ph.D.
Senior Research Chemist, PVC Research, Imperial Chemical
Industries Limited, Plastics Division, Bessemer Road, Welwyn Garden
City, Herts AL7 1HD, UK.
v. G. LOVELOCK
Consultant, 31 Westly Wood, Welwyn Garden City, Herts, UK.
Formerly Senior Research Chemist, Imperial Chemical Industries
Limited, Plastics Division, Bessemer Road, Welwyn Garden City,
Herts AL7 1H D, UK.
D. A. TESTER, B.Sc., Ph.D.
PVC Development Group Leader, PVC Technical Service, Imperial
Chemical Industries Limited, Plastics Division, Bessemer Road,
Welwyn Garden City, Herts AL7 1HD, UK.
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