Effect of polymer growth rate and diffusion resistance on the behavior of industrial polyethylene fluidized bed reactor

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Abstract

The two-phase model developed for the UNIPOL polyethylene process is improved by introducing polymer diffusion resistance, this means modelling of polyethylene fluidized bed reactors has been examined on two levels, at small scale of individual polymer particle, and macroscale of the whole reactor. The model utilizes the multigrain model that accounts for the reaction rate at catalyst surface to explore the static and dynamic bifurcation behavior of the fluidized bed catalytic reactor. Detailed bifurcation diagrams are developed and analyzed for the effect of polymer growth factor and Thiele modulus (the significance of the porous medium transport resistance is characterized by Thiele modulus) on reactor dense phase monomer concentration and reactor temperature as well as polyethylene production rate and reactor single pass conversion for the safe temperature region. The observations reveal that significant diffusion resistance to monomer transport exists, and this can mask the intrinsic rate constants of the catalyst. The investigation of polymer growth factor indicates that, the nascent stage of polymerization is highly gas phase diffusion influenced. Intraparticle temperature gradients would appear to be negligible under most normal operating conditions.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1049-1057
Number of pages9
JournalChemical Engineering and Technology
Volume24
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2001
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemistry
  • General Chemical Engineering
  • Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

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