Simulation of ethylene polymerization in continuous slurry reactors

A large volume of polyethylene is manufactured in continuous slurry reactors at an industrial scale. A complete reactor model of the polyethylene slurry reactors consists of the kinetic model, intraparticle diffusion model and the mass balance equations for individual species. In this paper, a modified polymeric multigrain model (PMGM) is used to describe the intraparticle monomer transport, rate of polymerization, particle growth and polymer yield in an ideal continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) using a single-site, non-deactivating catalyst. The effect of parameters such as the original catalyst size, ethylene partial pressure and the gas-liquid mass transfer coefficient on the radial monomer concentration profile, the rate of polymerization, polymer yield, reactor safety factor and the polydispersity index of the macroparticle is discussed. Copyright (c) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Chemical Engineering Conference 2021 (100 Glorious Years of Chemical Engineering & Technology)