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HDPE Pellets: Ethylene Polymerised in a Fluidised Bed
High-density polyethylene is made at low pressure on a Ziegler catalyst (a titanium halide with an aluminium compound). In the gas-phase process, ethylene flows up through a fluidised bed of fine catalyst at 85–100 °C and 20 bar and grows into polymer powder, which is melted and cut into pellets.
The picture: our diagram of the bed reactor and extruder.
Advanced
Continuous
Instructions
1
1
Polymerise in a fluidised bed
Polymerise in a fluidised bed
Feed fine catalyst into the bed reactor and blow ethylene up through it at 85–100 °C and 20 bar. The polymer grows on the catalyst grains.
Materials for this step:
Ethylene1 tTools needed:
Fluidised-Bed Reactor
Ziegler-Natta Catalyst (TiCl4 on MgCl2)
Gas Compressor2
2
Take off the powder
Take off the powder
Draw the polyethylene powder off the bed; compress the unreacted ethylene and send it round again.
Tools needed:
Fluidised-Bed ReactorGas Compressor3
3
Pelletise
Pelletise
Melt the powder in the extruder and cut the strand into pellets.
Tools needed:
Plastic Extruder4
4
Ethylene gas per kilogram of polymer
Ethylene gas per kilogram of polymer
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Tools Required
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