MASS TRANSFER WITH REVERSIBLE POLYCONDENSATION REACTIONS WHEREIN FUNCTIONAL GROUPS ARE NOT EQUALLY REACTIVE.

Simulations of reversible polycondensations with chain-length dependent reactivity of functional groups are carried out for three idealized reactor-geometries usually encountered in industry. It is observed that the molecular-weight-distributions (MWDs) depend on the location in the reaction mass when the equilibrium is unfavourable to the formation of high molecular-weight polymer. The MWDs split into two curves - for odd and even values of n, under certain conditions. However, it is confirmed that a representation of the MWDs in terms of a single parameter p, the conversion of functional groups, is not possible for unequal-reactivity polycondensations.