Patent ID: 7273570

Claim:
A method of manufacturing polymer particles comprising: i) providing an oil in water emulsion, wherein the oil phase comprises a volatile solvent, at least one water insoluble polymer wherein the volatile solvent has a solubility of not more than 10% in water and the water insoluble polymer has a weight average molecular weight of at least 2000, said water insoluble polymer being soluble in the volatile solvent; ii) supplying the emulsion to a rotating surface of a rotating surface reactor; iii) maintaining the temperature of the rotating surface at a boiling point of said solvent or greater; iv) operating the rotating surface reactor so that the rotating surface spins at a speed sufficient to cause the emulsion to spread over the rotating surface as a continuously flowing thin film wherein a vapor phase containing the volatile solvent is removed; and v) collecting the water insoluble polymer particles as a slurry of polymer particles.