Steady State Simulation of Two-Gas Phase Fluidized Bed Reactors in Series for Producing Linear Low Density Polyethylene

Document Type : Research Paper

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Abstract

A linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) production process, including
two- fuidized bed reactors in series (FBRS) and other process equipment,
was completely simulated by Aspen Polymer Plus software. Fluidized
bed reactors were considered as continuous stirred tank reactors (CSTR consisted of polymer and gas phases). POLY-SRK and NRTL-RK equations of state were used to describe polymer and non-polymer streams, respectively. In this simulation, a kinetic model, based on a double active site heterogeneous Ziegler-Natta catalyst was used for simulation of LLDPE process consisting of two FBRS. Simulator using this model has the capability to  predict a number of  principal characteristics of LLDPE such as melt fow index (MFI), density, polydispersity index, numerical and weight average
molecular weights (Mn,Mw) and copolymer molar fraction (SFRAC). The results of the simulation were compared with industrial plant data and a good agreement was observed between the predicted model and plant data. The simulation results show the relative error of about 0.59% for prediction of polymer mass fow and 2.67% and 0.04% for prediction of product MFI and density, respectively.

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Iranian Journal of Polymer Science and Technology
Volume 24, Issue 4 - Serial Number 4
November and December 2011
Pages 301-316

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