PRODUCTION OF FINELY PARTICULATE WATER-SOLUBLE POLYMER

A process for the preparation of finely divided, water-soluble polymers by polymerising water-soluble, monoethylenically unsaturated monomers in at least 20% strength by weight aqueous solution in the presence of polymerisation initiators in a compounder, where from 0.1 to 10% by weight of surfactants, based on the total amount of monomers, are employed during the polymerisation, and the polymerisation is carried out first to a monomer conversion of at least 60% in the absence of surfactants or in the presence of up to 50% of the surfactant amount, and the remainder of the surfactant amount is then added to the reaction mixture and the polymerisation is completed. The addition of surfactant causes the polymer gel to break down forming fine particles.