Active Phillips catalyst

Scheme 6.20.4 Formation of the active Phillips catalyst on a silica surface via reduction of the chromate ester with ethene. Adapted from Hagen (2006).

Most chromium-based catalysts are activated in the beginning of a polymerization reaction through exposure to ethylene at high temperature. The activation step can be accelerated with carbon monoxide. Phillips catalysts operate at 85—110°C (38,40), and exhibit very high activity, from 3 to 10 kg HDPE per g of catalyst (300—1000 kg HDPE/g Cr). Molecular weights and MWDs of the resins are controlled primarily by two factors, the reaction temperature and the composition and preparation procedure of the catalyst (38,39). Phillips catalysts produce HDPE with a MJM ratio of about 6—12 and MFR values of 90—120. 

The Phillips catalyst has attracted a great deal of academic and industrial research over the last 50 years. Despite continuous efforts, however, the structure of active sites on the Phillips-type polymerization systems remains controversial and the same questions have been asked since their discovery. In the 1950s, Hogan and Banks [2] claimed that the Phillips catalyst is one of the most studied and yet controversial systems . In 1985 McDaniel, in a review entitled Chromium catalysts for ethylene polymerization [4], stated we seem to be debating the same questions posed over 30 years ago, being no nearer to a common view . Nowadays, it is interesting to underline that, despite the efforts of two decades of continuous research, no unifying picture has yet been achieved. 

Phillips catalysts, 17 702 20 151-152 active chromium species on, 20 156 Phillips chromium catalyst, 20 152 Phillips Petroleum loop slurry process, 20 168... 

Initiation hy the Phillips catalyst is not well understood. Both Cr(II) and Cr(III) have been proposed as the active oxidation state of chromium. Initiation involves the formation... 

The strongest evidence in favor of propagation at the transition metal-alkyl bond is the existence of one-component, that is, metal-alkyl-free polymerization catalysts. Of these systems the Phillips catalyst was studied most thoroughly because of its commercial importance. Originally it was believed that Cr(VI) ions stabilized in the form of surface chromate and perhaps dichromate resulting from the interaction of Cr03 with surface hydroxyl groups above 400°C are the active species in polymerization 286,294... 

The Phillips Cr/silica polymerization catalyst is prepared by impregnating a chromium compound onto a wide pore silica and then calcining in oxygen to activate the catalyst. This leaves the chromium in the hexavalent state, monodispersed on the silica surface. Chromium trioxide (Cr03) has been impregnated mast commonly, but even a trivalent chromium salt can be used since oxidation to Cr(VI) occurs during calcining. 

The Phillips catalyst contains hexavalent chromium after calcining, but the early discoverers quickly realized that reduction takes place in the reactor on contact with ethylene, leaving chromium in a lower oxidation state as the active species. A worldwide debate has continued to this day about the valence of this reduced species. Chromium in every valence state from Cr(II) to Cr(VI) has been proposed as the active site, either alone or in combination with another valence. The question has received far more attention than it probably deserves, undoubtedly at the expense of more fundamental issues, like the polymerization mechanism. 

Supported CrC>3 catalysts, referred to as Phillips catalysts, are important industrial catalysts and are employed in high-density polyethylene production. Phillips catalysts polymerise ethylene with an induction period, which has been ascribed to the slow reduction of Cr(VI) by the monomer and to the displacement of oxidation products (mainly formaldehyde) from the catalytic species [226]. The prereduction of the catalyst with the use of H2 or CO enables the induction period to be eliminated. Active sites thus formed involve surface low-valence Cr(II) and Cr(III) centres, which can appear as mononuclear (formed from chromate species) and binuclear (formed from dichromate species) [227-232],... 

The selection and treatment of the support is fundamental to the process, and a plant may use catalysts made from a variety of supports to produce a whole range of products. Catalyst productivities are of the order of 5 kg of polyethylene per gram of catalyst or higher, with a corresponding chromium content of 2 ppm or less. The percentage of Cr atoms that form active polymerisation centres has been estimated as 12% [43]. Typically, commercial Phillips catalysts contain ca 1 % total Cr and have particle sizes of 30-150 pm [224]. 

Phillips catalysts are active in the polymerisation of propylene and higher a-olefins, yielding tacky polymers with irregular structure and small amounts of crystalline polymers in the case of polypropylene, a small amount of crystalline fraction appeared to constitute the isotactic polymer [236]. 

It was reported also that bis(triphenylsilyl) chromate [(Ph3Si)2Cr04], which is closely related to the proposed active species of the Phillips catalyst, polymerises ethylene at high pressure [238]. When supported on silica, it forms a very active catalyst for low-pressure ethylene polymerisation [226]. 

The typical Phillips catalyst comprises chemically anchored chromium species on a silica support. The formation of a surface silyl chromate, and eventually silyl dichromate [scheme (29)], is significant during the catalyst preparation, because at the calcination temperature chromium trioxide would decompose to lower-valent oxides. Chromium trioxide probably binds to the silica as the chromate initially, at least for the ordinary 1% loading. However, some rearrangement to the dichromate at high temperature may occur. It is incorrect to regard only one particular valence state of chromium as the only one capable of catalysing ethylene polymerisation. On the commercial CrOs/silica catalyst the predominant active species after reduction by ethylene or carbon monoxide [scheme (59)] is probably Cr(II), but other species, particularly Cr(III), may also polymerise ethylene under certain conditions ... 

In common with the polymerisation of acyclic olefins (oc-olefins) by Ziegler Natta catalysts, the ring-opening metathesis polymerisation of monocyclic and bicyclic olefins is promoted by alkylmetal-activated transition metal halides, and only a relatively small proportion of the transition metal atoms introduced into the system is converted into the active sites for the polymerisation. Also, as in the polymerisation of ethylene by Phillips catalysts, the metathesis polymer-... 

The Phillips catalyst is usually made by impregnating a chromium compound onto a porous, high-surface-area silicate carrier and then calcining in dry air at 500-900° C (14) (Fig. 1). This latter step is an activation that converts the chromium into a hexavalent surface chromate or perhaps dichromate ester. Because each chromium atom is individually attached to the... 

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