PREPARATION OF AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS OR DISPERSIONS OF POLYMERIC BEAD PRODUCTS

Preparation of Aqueous Solutions or Dispersions of Polymeric Bead Products A method of forming an aqueous solution or an aqueous dispersion of a polymer product com- prising providing the polymer product; feeding the polymer product to a polymer hydration make-up unit; combining the polymer product with an aqueous liquid; and hydrating the polymer product to form the aqueous solution or aqueous dispersion of the poly- mer product, in which the polymer product comprises water-soluble or water swellable polymer beads, wherein the water soluble or water swellable polymer beads are obtainable by a process com- prising a reverse-phase suspension polymerisation comprising forming aqueous monomer beads of an aqueous solution comprising water-soluble ethylenically unsaturated monomer or monomer blend and polymerising the monomer or monomer blend, to form polymer beads while sus- pended in a non-aqueous liquid, and recovering polymer beads, in which the process comprises providing in a vessel (1) a volume (2) of non-aqueous liquid wherein the volume of non-aqueous liquid extends between at least one polymer bead discharge point (3) and at least one monomer feed point (4), feeding the aqueous monomer or monomer blend through orifices (5) into, or onto, the non- aqueous liquid to form aqueous monomer beads, allowing the aqueous monomer beads to flow towards the polymer bead discharge point initiating polymerisation of the aqueous monomer beads to form polymerising beads, wherein the polymerising beads have formed polymer beads when they reach the polymer bead discharge point, removing a suspension of the polymer beads in non-aqueous liquid from the vessel at the poly- mer bead discharge point and recovering, water soluble or water swellable polymer beads from the suspension, in which the aqueous monomer or monomer blend and/or the orifices is/are vibrated such that the frequency multiplied by the weight average droplet diameter is between 150 and 800 mm/s. The method enables aqueous solutions or aqueous dispersions of water soluble or water swellable polymer product to be made at a consistent concentration and for the so formed aqueous solutions or dispersions to be consistently dosed into systems to be treated. L'invention concerne une préparation de solutions ou de dispersions aqueuses de produits de billes polymères. L'invention concerne un procédé pour former une solution ou dispersion aqueuse d'un produit polymère qui consiste à utiliser un produit polymère ; à