Patent ID: 7776277

Claim:
A polymerization apparatus comprising: a continuous polymerization reactor having a stirrer therein; a source of a monomer of the cyclic dimer of alpha-hydroxycarboxylic acid; at least one bypass-conduit for bypassing the monomer from the source of the monomer; first means for adding a polymerization catalyst to the bypassed monomer; a first-conduit for introducing a dominant amount of the monomer into the continuous polymerization reactor; a second-conduit connected between the continuous polymerization reactor and the first means that continuously supplies the bypassed monomer containing the polymerization catalyst to the dominant amount of the monomer; and second means that continuously supplies a bypassed monomer containing a polymerization initiator to the dominant amount of the monomer after adding the polymerization catalyst to the dominant amount of the monomer, for chemically contacting the monomer with the polymerization catalyst and the polymerization initiator in the continuous polymerization reactor to conduct continuous polymerization of the monomer.