Synthesis of polypropylene with varied microstructure and molecular weights characteristics using supported titanium catalyst system

Propylene polymerizations were conducted in slurry phase batch process using different dialkyldimethoxysilanes as an external donor with magnesium dichloride (MgCl₂) supported titanium tetrachloride (TiCl₄) catalyst having diisobutylphthalate (DIBP) as an internal donor. The dialkyl group of the external donors like dimethyldimethoxysilane (DMDMS), diisopropyldimethoxysilane (DIPDMS) and dicyclopentyldimethoxysilane (DCPDMS) were found to influence on the microstructure and the molecular weight characteristics of synthesized polypropylene in addition to the initial rate of polymerization and decay index. DCPDMS gave highest productivity and high molecular weight polypropylene with improved kinetics while DMDMS gave lowest productivity in comparison. The molar equivalent combination of DCPDMS with DIPDMS and DMDMS respectively, resulted in producing polypropylene with tacticity pattern and molecular weight characteristics in between the individual alkoxysilane based system indicating the effect of alkyl group on the catalyst performance.