Abstract
One of the leading routes for producing polyolefins is through gas-phase catalytic fluidized bed reactors. In this study, the industrial gas-phase ethylene polymerization reactor series of Jam Petrochemical Company has been dynamically analyzed, modeled and controlled. The copolymerization of ethylene with 1-butene is defined on Zeigler–Natta catalyst, assuming a double active site mechanism. To serve this purpose, pseudo-kinetic rate constants and the method of moments have been employed. The proposed model is capable of predicting the unsteady-state behavior of each reactor in addition to the properties of the product such as melt flow index (MFI), dispersion index, and molecular weight distribution (MWD). The verification of the model has been conducted with plant data to prove the accuracy of the model-estimated MWD and MFI. The controllability of the process control configuration has been examined through analyzing the dynamic behavior of the process under conventional feedback PID controllers. It has been observed that the control structure delivers a convincing performance for disturbance rejection.
Highlights
Polyolefins, the largest group of thermoplastics, are recognized to be cost-effective and showing excellent characteristics in a remarkable wealth of applications mainly as packaging, machinery parts, medical applications and domestic appliances
Covering 60% of the total polyolefin production, polyethylene is considered as the dominant polymer applied in the industry
Owing to operation at lower temperatures and pressures, no need for solvent, and better heat removal, gas-phase polymerization of ethylene in catalytic fluidized bed reactors is proved to be favorable for producing a broad range of polyethylene grades [1,2,3]
Summary
Polyolefins, the largest group of thermoplastics, are recognized to be cost-effective and showing excellent characteristics in a remarkable wealth of applications mainly as packaging, machinery parts, medical applications and domestic appliances. 1 First reactor parameter 2 Second reactor parameter cat Catalyst property in Feed property k Type of catalyst active site poly Polymer property rec Recycle property ref Reference value i Monomer number They developed a model to account for the effects of varying bubble size with respect to the bed height on the reactor dynamics and product properties.
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