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Online Monitoring of Polyolefin Particle Growth in Catalytic Olefin Slurry Polymerization by Means of Lasentec Focused Beam Reflectance Measurement (FBRM) and Video Microscopy (PVM) Probes
Author(s) -
Xalter Rainer,
Mülhaupt Rolf
Publication year - 2010
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.200900048
Subject(s) - polymerization , materials science , metallocene , particle (ecology) , particle size , chemical engineering , ethylene , microscopy , video microscopy , polymer , catalysis , composite material , chemistry , organic chemistry , optics , geology , engineering , oceanography , physics , microbiology and biotechnology , biology
Polymer particle growth in catalytic ethylene slurry polymerizations with SiO 2 ‐supported metallocene and post‐metallocene catalysts was monitored online using a Lasentec FBRM probe inserted into the stirred reactor. FBRM enabled the online monitoring of particle numbers and size distributions. Trend analyses provided time‐resolved information on selected variables of the particle growth processes. FBRM was combined with simultaneous ethylene mass flow measurements in order to distinguish between ideal particle growth and more complex growth processes involving particle fragmentation and aggregation. Additional use of a Lasentec PVM video microscopy probe during ethylene polymerization on a MgCl 2 ‐supported Ziegler catalyst enabled the online visualization of PE particles, complementing the data generated by FBRM online monitoring.