Flow Reactor for Sustainable Production of Hypercrosslinked Polymers

超交联聚合物（HCPs）是一类很有前途的聚合物，由于其优异的孔隙特性和出色的热稳定性，在吸附、色谱和催化等许多应用中具有潜在的用途。hcp已经在工业应用中广泛应用，以去除有毒物质和减少碳排放。目前，hcp是批量生产的，这是一个耗时的过程。随着环境修复需求的增加以及碳价格的上涨，可能很快就会需要大量的hcp，这可能会使目前采用的批处理方法不足。然而，为了增加hcp的产量，有可能将批量生产过程转化为流动-这是一个在研究中几乎没有探索过的不同寻常的方向。此外，为了确保hcp与其他微孔材料的竞争力，通过减少酸性废物的数量使该过程更加环保是很重要的。这可以通过使用深度共晶溶剂（DES）而不是使用传统的反应物组合来实现，这是另一种在文献中存在最少的方法。该项目将结合这两种雄心勃勃的方法，探索使用DES在流动中生产HCPs的可行性。将建立一个流动反应器，HCPs将使用DES和常规反应物在间歇和流动中合成。这些HCPs将被表征并相互比较。如果流动型HCPs被认为是成功的，则将改变反应条件，以优化生产过程并评估反应动力学。

Hypercrosslinked polymers (HCPs) is a promising class of polymers that has potential use in many applications, such as adsorption, chromatography and catalysis, due to their excellent porosity properties and outstanding thermal stability. HCPs are already widely deployed in industrial applications to remove toxicants and reduce carbon emissions.Currently, HCPs are produced in batch, which is a time-consuming process. With increasing demand for environmental remediation as well as rising carbon prices, much larger quantities of HCPs may be required soon, potentially making the currently employed batch process insufficient. However, to increase the production of HCPs, it is possible to convert the batch production process to flow - an unusual direction that has been barely explored in research.Additionally, to ensure the competitiveness of HCPs with other microporous materials, it is important to make the process greener by reducing the amount of acidic waste. This could be done by utilising deep eutectic solvents (DES) instead of using a conventional combination of reactants - another approach that has minimal presence in literature.This project will combine these two ambitious approaches to explore the feasibility of production of HCPs in flow using DES. A flow reactor will be built and HCPs will be synthesised using DES and conventional reactants in both batch and flow. These HCPs will be characterised and compared with each other. If the flow-based HCPs are deemed successful, the reaction conditions will be changed to optimise the production process and to evaluate the reaction kinetics.