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Condensed Mode Cooling of Ethylene Polymerization in Fluidized Bed Reactors
Author(s) -
McKenna Timothy F. L.
Publication year - 2019
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.201800026
Subject(s) - polyolefin , vaporization , fluidized bed , fouling , polymerization , materials science , fluidization , chemical engineering , ethylene , catalysis , nuclear engineering , chemistry , organic chemistry , composite material , polymer , engineering , biochemistry , layer (electronics) , membrane
This review gives an overview of the evolution of the technology of condensed mode cooling, primarily for the case of ethylene polymerization on supported catalysts in fluidized bed reactors. It is well known that this mode of heat removal is quite effective in allowing polyolefin manufacturers to increase significantly production rates. What is perhaps less well understood are all of the issues that, in addition to the effect of the latent heat of vaporization of injected liquid components, also have an impact on the rate of production and behavior of the reactor. However, the liquid components injected into the reactor can vaporize rapidly under full‐scale conditions, leaving behind several heavy components (with respect to ethylene) that have numerous effects on how the particles behave, on the reaction rate, and on fluidization, fouling, and other parameters related to reactor and process performance.