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Heterogeneous Catalytic Polymerization of Ethylene in Microtubular Reactor Systems |
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| Authors: | Meera Mahadevan Sangyool Lee Serguei V Dessiatoun Michael Ohadi Ebrahim Al Hajri Kyu Yong Choi |
| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.;2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.;3. Mechanical Engineering Program, Petroleum Research Institute, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. |
| Abstract: | The feasibility of using a microtubular reactor for heterogeneous polymerization of ethylene was investigated experimentally. Chemically inert polymer tubing of 800–2300 μm in inner diameter was fabricated and used as a polymerization reactor. Nonporous silica nanoparticles with a diameter of 400 nm were synthesized and used as support for the high‐activity rac‐ethylene(indenyl)2ZrCl2 catalyst with methylaluminoxane as cocatalyst and toluene as diluent. Large‐diameter microtubular reactors were also successfully used to conduct heterogeneous polymerization of ethylene in continuous reaction operations. High initial catalyst activity was obtained and the overall polymerization activity per volume or reactor length was quite high. No particle fragmentation occurred and the polymer particles were covered with small subgrains or nanofibrils with a diameter of 30 nm. |
| Keywords: | Metallocene catalyst Microreactor Millireactor Polyethylene Polymerization |