Solvents, Ziegler-Natta systems

Ziegler-Natta solution polymerization processes are very sensitive to impurities. Both the monomer and solvent streams must be well purified. Carbonyl and acetylenic impurities, common in crude monomer streams, must be removed along with the common polymerization inhibitor ferf-butylcatechol. Molecular weight control is often accomplished by the addition of chain-transfer agents in certain Ziegler-Natta systems. 

Erom 1955—1975, the Ziegler-Natta catalyst (91), which is titanium trichloride used in combination with diethylaluminum chloride, was the catalyst system for propylene polymerization. However, its low activity, which is less than 1000 g polymer/g catalyst in most cases, and low selectivity (ca 90% to isotactic polymer) required polypropylene manufacturers to purify the reactor product by washing out spent catalyst residues and removing unwanted atactic polymer by solvent extraction. These operations added significantly to the cost of pre-1980 polypropylene. 

Solution polymerization is bulk polymerization in which excess monomer serves as the solvent. Solution polymerization, used at approximately 13 plants, is a newer, less conventional process than emulsion polymerization for the commercial production of crumb mbber. Polymerization generally proceeds by ionic mechanisms. This system permits the use of stereospecific catalysts of the Ziegler-Natta or alkyl lithium types which make it possible to polymerize monomers into a cis structure characteristic that is very similar to that of natural rubber. This cis structure yields a rubbery product, as opposed to a trans stmcture which produces a rigid product similar to plastics. 

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]. 

Industrial polymerisation processes with the use of titanium-, cobalt- and nickel-based aluminium alkyl-activated Ziegler-Natta catalysts, which are employed for the manufacture of cis- 1,4-poly butadiene, involve a solution polymerisation in low-boiling aromatic hydrocarbons such as toluene or in a mixture of aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons such as n-heptane or cyclohexane. The polymerisation is carried out in an anhydrous hydrocarbon solvent system. The proper ratio of butadiene monomer and solvent is blended and then completely dried in the tower, followed by molecular sieves. The alkyla-luminium activator is added, the mixture is agitated and then the transition metal precatalyst is introduced. This blend then passes through a series of reactors in a cascade system in which highly exothermic polymerisation occurs. Therefore, the reaction vessels are cooled to slightly below room temperature. 

HDPE is produced mainly by a suspension (slurry) process in various types of reactors and with various polymerization procedures. In these processes, a supported Ziegler-Natta catalyst system or a Phillips catalyst in a solvent is used. Because the temperature (80-100°C) is lower than the melting point of the polyethylene (140°C), the polymer produced is separated as a solid. This process is highly versatile and can be used to produce many kinds of polyethylenes. 

The Unipol process employs a fluidized bed reactor (see Section 3.1.2) for the preparation of polyethylene and polypropylene. A gas-liquid fluid solid reactor, where both liquid and gas fluidize the solids, is used for Ziegler-Natta catalyzed ethylene polymerization. Hoechst, Mitsui, Montedison, Solvay et Cie, and a number of other producers use a Ziegler-type catalyst for the manufacture of LLDPE by slurry polymerization in hexane solvent (Fig. 6.11). The system consists of a series of continuous stirred tank reactors to achieve the desired residence time. 1-Butene is used a comonomer, and hydrogen is used for controlling molecular weight. The polymer beads are separated from the liquid by centrifugation followed by steam stripping. 

The main parameters of diene polymerisation with lanthanide-based catalytic systems are similar to those of polymerisation with ion-coordinated catalysts on the basis of d-metals. This can be seen from the following facts polymerisation of dienes has an anionic coordinated character [18] at polymerisation temperatures from 20 to 25 C, the reaction is of first order with respect to the monomer and catalyst (this property is independent of the natures of catalyst and hydrocarbon solvent, the only exception to this rule being the system considered in work [18]) for most of catalysts studied [18, 21, 26, 28, 41] and, the apparent activation energy of the reaction of polymerisation of dienes is of the order of 33.5 kj/mol [20, 41]. For lanthanide catalysts, the concentration of active centres is somewhat higher than for conventional Ziegler-Natta catalysts, e.g., for neodimium-based catalysts their content varies from 6-10% [12, 41, 42, 50] to 15-20% [54-57]. 

The polyacetylene made with the Ziegler-Natta catalytic system is infusible, insoluble, usually contaminated by catalyst residues, and tends to become brittle and dull when exposed to air due to slow oxidation. These features make it difficult to process or handle, and attempts have been made to either improve the polymer or make derivatives or precursors that are soluble in organic solvents. 

Problem of creation of multi-phase reaction systems with developed surface of phase contact is especially actual under polymer synthesis. In particular at the stages of reaction mixture formation under emulsion [1, 80] and suspension [142] copolymerization, halogenation of elastomers [55, 143], decomposition and removal of electrophilic catalysts and Ziegler-Natta catalytic systems out of polymer [1], saturation of solvent by monomers [78, 79], formation of heterogeneous and micro-heterogeneous Ziegler-Natta catalytic systems [144] and so on. 

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