Modeling and analysis of high-impact poly(propylene) production processes, 1: Effect of chemical poisoning on particle size distribution and gel formation

This work presents a simple model for a two-stage process of high impact poly(propylene) (HIPP) production. The model predicts the bivariate distribution of particle size and polymer composition. It takes into account the effect of chemical poisoning on gel particle formation. The result shows that poisoning the solid catalyst is not an effective method for gel reduction. A better approach is to saturate the polymer particles with a co-catalyst in reactor 1 and poison the co-catalyst in reactor 2. It is also shown that the residence time distribution (RTD) of reactor 1 has a strong effect on the gel particle formation. A continuous reactor with narrow RTD is advantageous for gel reduction. The model provides some guidance for the analysis and design of the HIPP production process. © Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH, 1999.