PROCESS FOR THE SYNTHESIS OF HIGH MOLECULAR WEIGHT PREDOMINANTLY AMORPHOUS POLYMERS WITH IMPROVED COLOR AND ADHESIVE PROPERTIES

摘要

The present invention relates to a continuous high molecular weight, amorphous polymer-producing process which includes a reactor design, an unreacted monomer and solvent recycling and purification system, a catalyst deactivation and polymer stabilization system, and a polymer isolation process. The present invention relates to the discovery of a continuous process for the production of polymers. The discovery relates particularly to Ziegler-Natta synthesis of amorphous polymers from α-olefins. In the inventive method, it was discovered that reconfiguration of process streams for the purposes of the product stabilization and catalyst deactivation led to elimination of the need for an elaborate absorption bed train to purify recycled components. Additionally, reconfiguration of process streams resulted in an improvement process yield where recycled solvent and unreacted monomer previously caused process yield to be marginal in comparison to using entirely new feedstocks. The present invention also comprises a preferred embodiment of the synthesis of polyoctene, the separation of polyoctene from unreacted octene monomer and unreactive hydrocarbon solvent, and the deactivation of polymerization catalyst.