THE EFFECT OF POLYMERIZATION CONDITIONS ON CATALYST ACTIVITY AND POLYMER PROPERTIES USING SUPPORTED METALLOCENE CATALYST

Abstract

In this study, the effects of polymerization conditions were evaluated on polyethylene produced by a supported metallocene catalyst for the catalytic activity and polymer properties in the slurry homo and copolymerization of ethylene. In the first part, the polymerization conditions were carried out to examine the effect of the polymerization temperatures, ethylene pressures and hydrogen response. Moreover, in the second part, we investigated more effect on 1-hexene loaded in the reactor. The results indicated that the catalytic activity was enhanced with increasing polymerization temperatures and ethylene pressures. Also, effect of hydrogen response was study. It was found that the activity increased at low hydrogen concentration. Apart from that at higher 1-hexene loading, the catalytic activity was steadily increasing at low temperature. Moreover, our studies have been found that molecular weight (MW) of polymer were controlled by polymerization temperatures and hydrogen response. However ethylene pressures and 1-hexene loading did not significantly affect. In addition, the melting temperature (Tm) and percent crystallinity (Xc) of polyethylene decrease with increasing 1-hexene incorporation in the copolymer.