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Modeling of molecular weight and copolymer composition distributions for ethylene‐propylene solution copolymerization
Author(s) -
Xu ChaoZhong,
Wang JiaJun,
Gu XuePing,
Feng LianFang
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.16632
Subject(s) - copolymer , materials science , molar mass distribution , polymer , computational fluid dynamics , chemical engineering , ethylene , mixing (physics) , thermodynamics , polymerization , polymer chemistry , chemistry , organic chemistry , composite material , physics , catalysis , quantum mechanics , engineering
A comprehensive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was developed to investigate spatial distributions of molecular weight distribution (MWD) and copolymer composition distribution (CCD) for ethylene‐propylene (EPM) copolymers in a bubble column reactor. The CFD approach incorporated Euler–Euler two‐fluid model, copolymerization kinetics, and copolymer microstructural distribution model together by user‐defined functions for ethylene‐propylene heterogeneous copolymerization process. MWD and CCD distributions were calculated by introducing Flory's distribution and Stockmayer's distribution, respectively. CFD model results were validated with literature data. The multiphase hydrodynamics, interphase mass transfer, spatial–temporal variations of MWD and CCD distributions were analyzed. Both distributions are wider at the inlet of reactor for the inefficient mixing, but narrower at the outlet due to fully developed flow and polymerization. This model is beneficial to the improvement of polymer products and process control in industrial EPM reactor.