Modeling Propylene Polymerization in a Two-Reactor System: Model Development and Parameter Estimation

摘要

A series of two reactors is commonly used to produce commercial polypropylene resins to make products with a broad range of microstructures using different feeding policies and/or operating conditions in both reactors. A mathematical model describing the molecular weight distribution (MWD) and yield of polypropylene made with a Ziegler–Natta catalyst in a two-reactor system is developed in this work. A new methodology to estimate the polymerization kinetic parameters combining the simultaneous MWD deconvolution and analysis of polymer yields in both reactors is also proposed. This pragmatic approach can be applied without knowledge of detailed polymerization rates and is, therefore, very convenient to quantify polymerizations in continuous pilot and/or commercial reactors, where such information is generally not available.