ABSTRACT:The effect of different polymerization media like n-hexane, cyclohexane, isooctane, n-decane, toluene, varsol, and light normal paraffin (LNP) on the kinetics of the slurry polymerization of ethylene using a highly active Ziegler Natta (ZN) catalyst for synthesizing UHMWPE was studied. Attempts have been made to determine the solubility of ethylene in the above polymerization media in a very basic manner and to correlate same with the process activation energy based on the Arrhenius plots. The ethylene solubility seemed to depend on the number of carbon atoms in the media, besides other parameters like geometry, dipole moment, etc. It is obvious and well understood that the monomer (ethylene) concentration has a direct bearing on the polymerization kinetics, which influenced the activation energy (Ea) besides other parameters like catalyst/cocatalyst concentration, temperature, etc which were kept constant during the study. The role of the catalyst system in controlling the activation energy was also further exemplified by employing a different ZN catalyst system wherein higher activation energy was observed. This was ascribed to restricted activation pathways for the catalyst under the comparable experimental conditions employed. As soon as better activation pathways for the catalyst were enabled the activation energy dropped down remarkably. The Ea for the synthesis of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) using traditional MgCl 2 supported Ti catalyst was found to be 5-12 kcal/mol which compared well with the values obtained by other researchers using other similar catalyst systems for different ethylene polymerization processes.

Ethylene polymerization using Ziegler‐Natta catalysts comprising TiCl4 supported on MgCl2 with aluminum alkyls as co‐catalyst produce UHMWPE through a mediated proportional reduction of the Ti oxidation states. We observe the molecular weight regulation to be a combined function of hydrogen and the co‐catalyst through experimental evidences. The role of unavoidable chain transfer reactions for molecular weight regulation has been observed during the production of UHMWPE along with H2 through controlled catalyst dosing. Process optimization studies at 7.5 atm ethylene pressure could absorb small deviations in the catalyst systems to maintain the desired molecular weights.magnified image

A cross-linked poly acrylic acid tri-polymer is successfully synthesized by batch charging polymerization of poly allyl tris buffer, di-vinyl benzene and acrylic acid and this new method is profitable in terms of reducing the toxicity, faster, purity and cheaper than available methods. The morphological structure of the synthesized polymer is studied by SEM and the characteristic functional groups of the synthesized polymers are identified using FTIR. TGA and DSC techniques were employed to study their thermal characterization.

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