Polymerization process for olefins

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12440817-B2
Application number	US-202017763440-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 23, 2020
Priority date	Sep 24, 2019
Publication date	Oct 14, 2025
Grant date	Oct 14, 2025

Abstract

The present invention relates to a process for the polymerization of olefin monomers in the presence of a catalyst system, using a tubular pre-polymerization reactor, wherein the tubular pre-polymerization reactor has a length L and the flow of a catalyst system is introduced in the tubular pre-polymerization reactor in the middle (30-70% of L) or the end (70-95% of L) of the tubular pre-polymerization reactor.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A process for the polymerization of olefin monomers in the presence of a catalyst system, the process comprising:
a. feeding a liquid flow of one or more olefin monomers into a tubular pre-polymerization reactor;
b. contacting the liquid flow of one or more olefin monomers with a flow of a catalyst system in the tubular pre-polymerization reactor to obtain a pre-polymer;
c. feeding the pre-polymer obtained in step b) to a polymerization reactor;
wherein the tubular pre-polymerization reactor has a length L and the flow of the catalyst system is introduced in the tubular pre-polymerization reactor in the middle within 30-70% of L or at the end within 70-95% of L of the tubular pre-polymerization reactor,
wherein the tubular pre-polymerization reactor has a Length/Diameter (L/D) ratio of 1,000 to 50,000.

2. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the tubular pre-polymerization reactor has a Length/Diameter (L/D) ratio of 5,000 to 35,000.

3. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more olefin monomers are selected from ethylene, propylene, or a combination thereof.

4. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more olefin monomers are polymerized to a pre-polymerization degree from 0.5 to 220 g pre-polymer/g catalyst system.

5. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the inlet temperature of the flow of one or more olefin monomers at a beginning of the tubular pre-polymerization reactor is from 5 to 50° C.

6. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the catalyst system is a Ziegler-Natta catalyst system.

7. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the tubular pre-polymerization reactor is a helical coil.

8. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the polymerization reactor is a gas phase polymerization reactor.

9. The process according to claim 8 , wherein the gas phase polymerization reactor is selected from fluidized bed reactors, stirred bed reactors, or gas-phase reactors having interconnected polymerization zones.

10. An apparatus for the polymerization of one or more olefin monomers comprising a tubular pre-polymerization reactor connected to a polymerization reactor, wherein the tubular pre-polymerization reactor has a length L and comprises
an inlet for feeding a liquid flow of one or more olefin monomers at a beginning of the tubular pre-polymerization reactor,
an inlet for feeding a catalyst system in the middle of the tubular actor within 30-70% of L,
an inlet for feeding a catalyst system at the end of the tubular reactor within 70-959 of L, and
an outlet at the end of the reactor for transferring the pre-polymer to the polymerization reactor,

wherein the tubular pre-polymerization reactor has a Length/Diameter (L/D) ratio of 1,000 to 50,000.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the tubular pre-polymerization reactor is a helical coil.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the tubular pre-polymerization reactor has a Length/Diameter (L/D) ratio of 5,000 to 35,000.

Assignees

• Sabic Global Technologies Bv

Inventors

• Setlhaku Mpho Prudence
• Zuideveld Martin Alexander
• Smeets Bobby Johannes Henricus Hubertus

Classifications

• C08F10/06

  Propene · CPC title

• B01J2208/0053

  Controlling multiple zones along the direction of flow, e.g. pre-heating and after-cooling · CPC title

• B01J8/1827

  the fluidising gas being a reactant · CPC title

• B01J8/14

  moving in free vortex flow apparatus · CPC title

• B01J8/087 Primary

  Heating or cooling the reactor · CPC title