Polymerisation Ziegler-Natta process

Figure 28 Hydrogen transfer reaction in propylene polymerisation by the Ziegler-Natta process.

A weU-known feature of olefin polymerisation with Ziegler-Natta catalysts is the repHcation phenomenon ia which the growing polymer particle mimics the shape of the catalyst (101). This phenomenon allows morphological control of the polymer particle, particularly sise, shape, sise distribution, and compactness, which greatiy influences the polymerisation processes (102). In one example, the polymer particle has the same spherical shape as the catalyst particle, but with a diameter approximately 40 times larger (96). 

Attempts to produce coplymers of ethylene and styrene by free radical and by conventional Ziegler-Natta catalysts systems have, over the years, not proved successful. However, in 1998 Dow announced novel polymers using a metallocene process with the intention of commercial polymerisation using a 23 000t.p.a. capacity plant starting in 1999. 

With the exception of LDPE, polyolefins like other polyethylenes and polypropylene, which represent the largest amount of vinyl-type polymers produced in the world, are neither synthesized by radical nor by classical ionic polymerisation processes. Different types of polymerisation catalysts are in use for these purposes. The Cr-based Phillips catalyst, Ziegler-Natta type catalysts, metallocene or other more recently discovered catalysts, including late transition metal catalysts, are all characterized by their propagation step where the olefin monomer inserts into a carbon-transition metal link. ... 

C. Usually the polymerisation is carried out in the presence of Ziegler-Natta catalysts based on titanium tetrachloride and aluminium alkyl. The catalyst may be either prepared or formed in the reactor. Usually, the polymerisation is carried out in presence of a hydrocarbon solvent. The polymer is insoluble in the solvent. The reaction is terminated by addition of an alcohol and catalyst extracted with alcoholic hydrochloric acid. Catalyst removal is important for electrical insolution used. The Polymer chain obtained by this process is essentially linear. 

The three phases that are present in the Ziegler-Natta polymerisation are (i) the monomer (ii) the solvent and (iii) the catalyst. Reactions take place at certain points on the surface of catalyst particles. The polymer molecule grows as the monomer units join the chain where earlier monomer is attached to the catalyst particle. The precise nature of the action of catalyst is not yet known. However, the first step in the polymerisation process proposed is the formation of a monomer-catalyst complex between the organometallic compound and the monomer. 

Cyclopentadienyl compounds (i.e. metallocenes) (Fig. 5), which have at least one direct metal-carbon bond to the C5H5 ligand, were first synthesised in the 1950s [79,80]. Since then, reactions of cyclopentadienyl reagents have been applied for almost every element [123]. The main application of metallocenes is their use as catalysts in the polymerisation of olefins by Ziegler-Natta polymerisation processes. As many metallocene compounds are volatile and thermally stable, they are also suitable for use as precursors in MOCVD [124-127]. Although cyclopentadienyl compounds have attracted considerable interest as precursors in CVD depositions they are sometimes too reactive [128]. However, high reactivity and thermal stability make cy-... 

In all the low pressure PE processes the polymer is formed through coordination polymerisation. Three basic catalyst types are used chromium oxide, Ziegler-Natta and single-site catalysts. The catalyst type together with the process defines the basic structure and properties of the polyethylene produced. Apart from the MWD and comonomer distribution that a certain catalyst produces in polymerisation in one reactor, two or more cascaded reactors with different polymerisation conditions increase the freedom to tailor... 

It may be of interest that isotactic polystyrene formed by styrene polymerisation with Ziegler Natta catalysts [13] did not appear to be a polymer that could exhibit significantly better usable properties compared with atactic polystyrene produced in free radical styrene polymerisation processes. 

The type of solvent or diluent should be specified in reporting a Ziegler-Natta catalyst system. Alkene polymerisations are usually carried out in inert solvents, such as aliphatic or aromatic hydrocarbons (e.g. some gasoline fractions or toluene). The use of protic or aprotic polar solvents or diluents instead of the hydrocarbon polymerisation medium can drastically alter the reaction mechanism. This usually results in catalyst deactivation for alkene coordination polymerisation. Modern alkene polymerisation processes are carried out in a gas phase, using fluidised-bed catalysts, and in a liquid monomer as in the case of propylene polymerisation [28,37]. 

No precise information about the olefin polymerisation mechanism has been obtained from kinetic measurements in systems with heterogeneous catalysts analysis of kinetic data has not yet afforded consistent indications either concerning monomer adsorption on the catalyst surface or concerning the existence of two steps, i.e. monomer coordination and insertion of the coordinated monomer, in the polymerisation [scheme (2) in chapter 2], Note that, under suitable conditions, each step can be, in principle, the polymerisation rate determining step [241]. Furthermore, no % complexes have been directly identified in the polymerisation process. Indirect indications, however, may favour particular steps [242]. Actually, no general olefin polymerisation mechanism that may be operating in the presence of Ziegler-Natta catalysts exists, but rather the reaction pathway depends on the type of catalyst, the kind of monomer and the polymerisation conditions. 

Although the polymerisation rate increases with increasing temperature, ethylene and 7-olefin polymerisations in the presence of most Ziegler-Natta catalysts are carried out at moderately elevated temperature, usually not exceeding 100 °C. This is due to destabilisation of the system, which occurs when temperature is raised beyond a certain critical value. There are, however, few catalysts that operate in industrial polymerisation processes at temperatures above 200 °C [51,240]. 

Kinetic models referred to as adsorption models have been proposed, especially for olefin polymerisation with highly active supported Ziegler-Natta catalysts, e.g. MgCl2/ethyl benzoate/TiCU AIR3. These models include reversible processes of adsorption of the monomer (olefin coordination at the transition metal) and adsorption of the activator (complexation via briding bonds formation). There are a variety of kinetic models of this type, most of them considering the actual monomer and activator concentrations at the catalyst surface, m and a respectively, described by Langmuir-Hinshelwood isotherms. It is to be emphasised that M and a must not be the same as the respective bulk concentrations [M] and [A] in solution. Therefore, fractions of surface centres complexed by the monomer and the activator, but not bulk concentrations in solution, are assumed to represent the actual monomer and activator concentrations respectively. This means that the polymerisation rate equation based on the simple polymerisation model should take into account the... 

In view of the observed inactivity of a, a-disubstituted olefins towards polymerisation with Ziegler-Natta catalysts, it is interesting to note that a, co-diolefins substituted at unsaturated carbon atoms, such as e.g. 2,5-dimethyl-l,5-hexa-diene, also undergo cyclopolymerisation, analogously to unsubstituted parent monomers [2,446], This can be interpreted in terms of a reaction pathway analogous to that shown in scheme (89). The insertions in the cyclopolymerisation appear to be facilitated by the nature of such a process. 

What are the advantages of half-sandwich metallocene-based catalysts as compared with heterogeneous Ziegler-Natta catalysts in styrene polymerisation What are the possible consequences of this for developing industrial processes ... 

As regards chain termination reactions, several processes can bring about termination of the growing macromolecule. These processes have been studied mostly for the polymerisation of butadiene or isoprene with Ziegler-Natta... 

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