Dynamic modeling and Molecular Weight Distribution of ethylene copolymerization in an industrial gas-phase Fluidized-Bed Reactor

• Main Authors: Abbasi, M.R., Shamiri, Ahmad, Hussain, Mohd Azlan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Brill Academic Publishers 2016
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/17640/1/modeling_paper.pdf; http://eprints.um.edu.my/17640/; http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apt.2016.05.014

A dynamic model for ethylene copolymerization in an industrial Fluidized-Bed Reactor (FBR) is developed to describe its behavior and calculate the properties of polyethylene. The presented model considers particle entrainment and polymerization reaction in two phases. Two-site kinetic and hydrodynamic models in combination, provide a comprehensive model for the gas phase fluidized-bed polyethylene production reactor. The governing moment and hydrodynamic differential equations were solved simultaneously and the results compared with a similar work, as well as industrial data. The dynamic model showed accurate results for predicting Polydispersity Index (PDI), Molecular Weight Distribution (MWD), reactor temperature and polymer production rate.