Characterization of chaotic multiscale features on the time series of melt index in industrial propylene polymerization system

Abstract

The chaos characteristics of melt index have been first explored, and the Hilbert–Huang transform method and time delay embedding method are applied to multiscale dynamic analysis on the time series of the melt index (MI) in the propylene polymerization industry. The research results show that the embedding delay is 2, the embedding dimension is 5, the correlation dimension D2 is 1.57, and the maximum Lyapunov exponent is 0.143 for the melt index series, which provide clear evidence of chaotic multiscale features in the propylene polymerization process. Three intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) are decomposed from the melt index time series; the presence of non-integer fractal correlation dimension and positive finite maximum Lyapunov exponent are found in some IMF components. The PP melt index series are divided into two chaotic signals, a determined signal and a random signal respectively, and its complexity is therefore reduced. Furthermore, the coupling of subscale structures of the propylene polymerization is explored with the dimension of interaction dynamics and a robust algorithm for detecting interdependence. It is found that IMF(2) is the main driver in the coupling system of IMF(1)and IMF(2). All these provide a guideline for studying propylene polymerization process with chaotic multiscale theory and may offer more candidate tools to model and control propylene polymerization system in the future.