Annotated Equipment List (Data Sheet)

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Polymerization Equipment
Polymerization via the reactive extrusion process polymerizes the 'lactide, tin octoate-based catalyt, and suitable stabilizer directly into the final PLA product within a residence time of about five minutes'(Jacobsen,3). This process takes place in a Co-rotating TWIN-SCREW EXTRUDERS (TSEs), and can further be optimized by:

"At the beginning of this zone it is possible to install a devolatilization unit to remove the remaining low molecular weight components such as leftover monomer or side reaction products at a reduced pressure level. The main part of this zone is used to build up the pressure to overcome the die resistance. In this pumping zone the final part of polymerization will be achieved at increased pressure levels of up to 100 bars, until the thermodynamic equilibrium of the polymerization reaction is reached at around 96-99% monomer conversion, depending on the processing conditions used."(Jacobsen,4)

Polymerization Materials:

" (L,L)-lactide, having a water content of [less than] 40 ppm and containing 0.2% remaining toluene. The remaining free acidity was determined to be 6.5 mequ/kg. The 2-ethylhexanoic acid tin(II) salt [Sn(Oct).sub.2] was purchased from Th. Goldschmidt and used without purification. A 0.15 molar solution of the tin octoate-based catalytic system was prepared by dilution in freshly dried toluene. Toluene was dried by refluxing over Ca[H.sub.2]. Ultranox 626, used as a stabilizing agent, was provided by GE Specialty Chemicals and used without further purification. "(Jacobsen,4)

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