Optical and Infrared Study of Individual Reacting Metallocene Catalyst Particles.

The article presents a study which aimed to determine the magnitude of the temperature rise of individual supported metallocene catalyst particles and its dependence on the reactor temperature, initial catalyst particle size and the addition of hydrogen to the feed. It has been found that the maximum transient temperature rise of single commercial catalyst particle during ethylene polymerization is lower than that which can lead to local melting and polymer sheet formation. However, the addition of hydrogen to the feed significantly increased the initial particle temperature rise.