Commercial Loop reactor first process

Borstar A catalytic process for polymerizing ethylene. Use of two reactors, a loop reactor and a gas-phase reactor, allows better control of molecular weight distribution. The loop reactor operates under super-critical conditions to avoid bubble formation. Either Ziegler-Natta or metallocene catalysts can be used. The first commercial unit was installed in Porvoo, Finland, in 1995. 

LARAN [Linde anaerobic methane] An anaerobic process for treating industrial waste waters, generating methane for use as fuel. The process uses a fixed-bed loop reactor. Developed by Linde in the early 1980s, first commercialized in 1987. 

Borstar A catalytic process for polymerizing ethylene or propylene, subdivided into Borstar PE and Borstar PP. Use of two reactors — a loop reactor and a gas-phase reactor — allows better control of molecular weight distribution. The loop reactor operates under supercritical conditions to avoid bubble formation. Either Ziegler-Natta or metallocene catalysts can be used. The latest version, Borstar PE 2G, uses a single, multizone gas-phase reactor to make polymers that have bimodal molecular weight distributions. Developed by Borealis A/S. The first commercial unit, for polyethylene, was installed in Porvoo, Finland, in 1995. The first polypropylene plant was operated by Borealis in Schwechat, Austria, in 2000. In 2005, Borstar s total capacity for PE and PP was 1.3 million tons. 

The Borstar PP process developed by Borealis can operate at temperatures above the critical temperature of the reaction medium. This process uses a loop reactor and gas-phase reactor in series for the production of homopolymer. Additional gas-phase reactors are required for the production of impact copolymers. The first commercial scale plant using this process started in 2000. Basell has announced the development of the Spherizone process using a recirculating gas-phase reactor (Covezzi paper). The reactor contains two zones that can be operated under different conditions, enabling the production of multiphase specialty copolymers in a single reactor. This reactor was first used in a commercial scale plant in 2002. 

Slurry processes for olefin polymerization are performed in autoclave or loop reactors. Both reactor configurations are rather old and date from the beginning of commercial olefin polymerization. Most first-generation olefin polymerization processes used autoclave reactors, while the PhUhps process employed a loop reactor. 

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