Patent ID: 9700814
Date: 2017-07-11
CPC Classifications: B01D,C08F,G01F,G01N

Claim:
1. A system including a liquid-liquid separator vessel, a vessel inlet, and a sonic transponder for detecting an interface between a polymer-rich phase and a solvent-rich phase, in the liquid-liquid separator vessel, the system characterized by: the liquid-liquid separator vessel configured to receive through the vessel inlet a polymer solution inlet stream comprising solvent, polymer and monomer produced in a solvent-based polymerization reactor, wherein the liquid-liquid separator vessel is configured to provide a residence time of at least 20 minutes and to permit the polymer solution inlet stream to separate into the polymer rich phase and the solvent rich phase; a first sonic transponder for sending a first sonic signal from a top of the liquid-liquid separator vessel and for receiving a first reflected portion of the sonic signal; and a second sonic transponder for sending a second sonic signal from a bottom of the liquid-liquid separator vessel and for receiving a second reflected portion of the sonic signal; where the first reflected portion of the first sonic signal is created by reflecting a first portion of the first sonic signal from a liquid-liquid interface between the solvent rich phase and the polymer rich phase; and wherein the second reflected portion of the second sonic signal is created by reflecting a second portion of the second sonic signal from the liquid-liquid interface between the solvent rich phase and the polymer rich phase; wherein the first sonic transponder is positioned such that it transmits the first sonic signal perpendicularly to the liquid-liquid interface and wherein the second sonic transponder is positioned such that it transmits the second sonic signal perpendicularly to the liquid-liquid interface, and wherein the vessel inlet feeds the polymer solution inlet stream into a bottom portion of the liquid-liquid separator vessel.