Continuous Flow Synthesis of Polyvinylidene Fluoride

ACS Macro Letters, vol. 14, pp. 1654–1660

Abstract

Driven by surging demand in battery technologies, the global production of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) urgently requires scalable and efficient synthesis methods. Current batch processes are constrained by mass and heat transfer limitations, causing scalability and efficiency bottlenecks. Here, we introduce a novel continuous flow reactor for the fluorosurfactant-free emulsion polymerization of VDF, utilizing a dense tubular membrane made of Teflon AF-2400 to establish a stable phase boundary. This significantly improves mass and heat transfer, reduces energy use, and enables high space-time yields exceeding 190 kg m –3 h –1 at just 15 bar gas pressure. Our approach offers substantial advantages in industrial scalability, consistency in polymer quality, and potential adaptability to other gas–liquid–solid polymerization systems.

Authors 3

1. Stefan Herrmann Aachen AVT.CVT.- Chair of Chemical Process Engineering

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   RWTH Aachen University, AVT.CVT - Chair of Chemical Process Engineering, Forckenbeckstraße 51, 52074 Aachen, Germany

2. Nick Semrau Aachen AVT.CVT.- Chair of Chemical Process Engineering

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   RWTH Aachen University, AVT.CVT - Chair of Chemical Process Engineering, Forckenbeckstraße 51, 52074 Aachen, Germany

3. Matthias Weßling corresponding Aachen DWI - Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials AVT.CVT.- Chair of Chemical Process Engineering

   RWTH Aachen University · DWI – Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials

   Affiliation as printed

   DWI - Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials, Forckenbeckstraße 50, 52074 Aachen, Germany

   RWTH Aachen University, AVT.CVT - Chair of Chemical Process Engineering, Forckenbeckstraße 51, 52074 Aachen, Germany