STUDY ON PROCESS PARAMETERS IN METALLOCENE POLYMERIZATIONS .1. APPARENT VISCOSITY AND MACROSCALE MASS-TRANSFER

A heat balance reaction calorimeter was used to obtain information abo ut the most informative process parameters in polymerizations carried out with Et[Ind]2ZrCl2-methylaluminoxane catalyst. The viscosity of th e reaction mixture was found to increase dramatically during the homop olymerization of ethylene, but it could be controlled through appropri ate selection of the reaction mixture medium. The mass transfer betwee n the gas and liquid phases was the rate-determining step for the poly merization when the reaction mixture-based Reynolds number was below 2 .500. The limited mass transfer between the gas and liquid phases was caused by the intensive activity of the metallocene catalyst and the i ncreased viscosity of the reaction mixture.