Dynamic Modeling of Industrial Loop Reactors for Catalytic Ethylene (Co)polymerization: Pressure Safety Valves

Abstract

AbstractIn industrial loop reactors, for catalytic ethylene (co)polymerization, the heat produced by polymerization can result in temperature and pressure increase, which in turn can lead to reactor breakage, explosion, and consequent release of toxic/flammable fluids in the environment. To predict the reactor temperature and pressure during ethylene (co)polymerization and assess the performance of presure safety valves (PSVs) in response to emergency accidents, an integrated mathematical approach is followed including catalyst kinetics, thermodynamics, and transport properties modeling. A catalytic ethylene (co)polymerization kinetic model is used to predict the catalyst activity variation with respect to reactor temperature and the heat produced by the polymerization reaction during a reaction runaway. The Sanchez–Lacombe equation of state (SL EOS) is utilized in order to predict the reactor pressure for different slurry mixture compositions and the slurry densities at different temperatures, pressures and solids weight fractions. Dynamic macroscopic mass and energy balances are derived to calculate the dynamic evolution of concentrations of the various molecular species as well as the temperature changes in the loop reactor. The model can predict the temperature and pressure increase rates and the maximum flow rate at the PSVs during the runaway.