Dynamic model for polyethylene production in a multizone circulating reactor
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2008
Abstract
The multizone circulating reactor (MZCR) technology is a newly announced reactor design for solid-catalyzed gas-phase polymerization. The process is characterized by two hydrodynamically distinct but interconnecting polymerization zones, thus forming a continuous loop of polymer flow between the said zones. In the present study, a dynamic model for the MZCR reactor is developed to illustrate the basic dynamic behavior of the new reactor design; the model is used to study the copolymerization of ethylene with butene. Several parameter sensitivity analyses are performed to show the computer-simulated time responses for reactor temperature, number-average molecular weight, weight-average molecular weight, catalyst feed rate and the monomer concentration along the reactor length.
Keywords
Fluidized bed, MZCR, Polyethylene, Polymerization, Butenes, Chemical reactors, Copolymerization, Ethylene, Fluidized beds, Multizone circulating reactor (MZCR), Polymer flow, Polyethylenes.
Divisions
fac_eng
Publication Title
Chemical Product and Process Modeling
Volume
3
Issue
1
Publisher
Chemical Product and Process Modeling
Additional Information
Cited By (since 1996): 2 Export Date: 5 March 2013 Source: Scopus Art. No.: 1 Language of Original Document: English Correspondence Address: Ghasem, N. M.; United Arab Emirates UniversityUnited Arab Emirates; email: nayef@uaeu.ac.ae References: Basell. Spherizone Process and Services, Basell Poliolefine Italia, S. p. A., Milan, 2003Benham, E., McDaniel, M., (2003) Ethylene Polymers: HDPE in Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Technology, , Wiley, New York; Choi, K.Y., Ray, W.H., The dynamic behavior of fluidized bed reactors for solid catalyzed gas phase olefin polymerization (1985) Chem. Eng. Sei, 40 (12), pp. 2261-2279; Covezzi, M., Mei, G.M., The multizone circulating reactor technology (2001) Chem. Eng. Sci, 56, pp. 4059-4067; Fernandes, F.A.N., Lona, L.M.F., Multizone circulating reactor modeling for gas-phase polymerization II: Reactor operating with gas barrier in the downer section (2004) J. Appl. Polym. Sci, 93, pp. 1053-1059; Fernandes, F.A.N., Lona, L.M.F., Multizone circulating reactor modeling for gas-phase polymerization I: Reactor modeling (2004) J. Appl. Polym. Sci, 93, pp. 1042-1052; Ghasem, N.M., Effect of polymer particle size and inlet gas temperature on industrial fluidized bed polyethylene reactors (1999) Chem. Eng. Tech, 22 (9), pp. 777-783; Govoni, G., Rinaldi, R., Covezzi, M., Galli, P., Process and apparatus for the gasphase polymerization of �-olefins, (1997), US Patent 5,698,642Hatzantonis, H., Yiannoulakis, H., Yiagopoulos, A., Kiparissides, C., Recent developments in modeling gas-phase catalyzed olefin polymerization fluidized-bed reactors: The effect of bubble size variation on the reactor's performance (2000) Chem. Eng. Sci, 55, pp. 3237-3259; Knuuttila, H., Lehtinen, A., Pakarinen, A.N., Advanced polyethylene technologies-control material properties (2004) Adv. Polym. Sci, 169, pp. 13-27; Kunii, D., Levenspiel, O., Circulating fluidized-bed reactors (1997) Chem. Eng. Sci, 52 (15), pp. 2471-2482; McAuley, K.B., MacGregor, J.F., Hamielec, A.E., A kinetic model for industrial gas-phase ethylene copolymerization (1990) AIChE J, 36 (6), pp. 837-850; Santos, J.L., Asua, J.M., de la Cal, J.C., Modeling of olefin gas phase polymerization in a multizone circulating reactor (2005) Ind. Eng. Chem. Res, 45 (9), pp. 3081-3094; Tobita, H., Hamielec, A.E., Kinetics of free-radical copolymerization: The pseudo-kinetic rate constant method (1991) Polymer, 32 (14), pp. 2641-2647