THE EFFECT OF THE MEAN PARTICLE-SIZE ON THE DYNAMIC BEHAVIOR OF CATALYZED OLEFIN POLYMERIZATION FLUIDIZED-BED REACTORS

Recent developments in modelling gas-phase catalyzed olefin fluidized bed polymerization reactors are critically examined in order to quanti fy the effect of the mean particle size on the dynamic behaviour of th e FBR A comprehensive population balance model is developed to investi gate the effect of particle size distribution in gasphase fluidized be d olefin polymerization reactors. To assess the impact of mean particl e size on the dynamic behaviour of an FBR, a new bubble-growth model i s proposed. Simulation results show that model predictions are strongl y influenced by the choice of the mean particle diameter, since its va lues dramatically affects the main fluidization parameters (e.g., soli ds terminal velocity, maximum stable bubble size, minimum fluidization velocity and the heat and mass transfer coefficients) in the bed. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.