Gas-phase Polyethylene Reactors: A Critical Review of Modelling Approaches

Rita Ferreira Alves (1) , Tommaso Casalini (2) , Giuseppe Storti (2) , Timothy Mckenna (1)

1 C2P2 - Laboratoire de Chimie, Catalyse, Polymères et Procédés, R 5265
2 D-CHAB - Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences [ETH Zürich]

This review looks at the different approaches to modelling the gas phase polymerization of ethylene that have been considered in the literature. It is shown that while simple, well-mixed models can give an adequate representation of the average performance of a given polymerization reactor, they do not allow one to analyze certain modelling problems such as the existence of temperature gradients or particle segregation, nor can they be used to treat operational modes such as condensed cooling where there can be up to three different phases in different parts of the reactor. For this, more complex models are required. These can take the form of compartmentalized models or even models based on computation fluid dynamics. However, long computational times can be required to fully exploit these models. Furthermore, significant progress needs to be made if we are to address important phenomena such as agglomeration or particle attrition during polymerization.

Domaines: Chimie; Génie chimique; Polymères

Rita Ferreira Alves, Tommaso Casalini, Giuseppe Storti, Timothy Mckenna. Gas-phase Polyethylene Reactors: A Critical Review of Modelling Approaches. Macromolecular Reaction Engineering, 2021, ⟨10.1002/mren.202000059⟩. ⟨hal-03142054⟩