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Continuous Soluble Ziegler‐Natta Ethylene Polymerizations in Reactor Trains, 3 – Influence of Operating Conditions upon Process Performance
Author(s) -
Embiruçu Marcelo,
Pontes Karen,
Lima Enrique Luis,
Pinto José Carlos
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
macromolecular reaction engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.37
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1862-8338
pISSN - 1862-832X
DOI - 10.1002/mren.200700047
Subject(s) - natta , polymer , process (computing) , materials science , polymerization , ethylene , continuous stirred tank reactor , mixing (physics) , melt flow index , polypropylene , catalysis , process engineering , chemical engineering , computer science , chemistry , composite material , engineering , organic chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , copolymer , operating system
The behavior of continuous solution ethylene/but‐1‐ene polymerizations through Ziegler‐Natta catalysts is analyzed, based on a previously developed mathematical model. In order to do that, dynamic simulations are carried out and process responses are analyzed as functions of process operating policies and flowsheet configuration, at conditions that resemble the actual operation of industrial sites. It is shown that system responses are highly nonlinear and very sensitive to disturbances of the operating conditions and that catalyst decay is of fundamental importance for proper understanding of process behavior. Results indicate that mixing conditions inside the reactor vessels exert a significant impact upon the final polymer quality and can be manipulated for in‐line control of final resin properties. Finally, it is shown that the development of feed policies, based on the use of lateral feed streams, allows the simultaneous control of melt flow index, stress exponent and polymer density of the final polymer resin.