A Simplified Model for Prediction of Molecular Weight Distributions in Ethylene‐Hexene Copolymerization Using Ziegler‐Natta Catalysts

A simplified steady-state model has been developed to predict molecular weight distributions and average compositions of ethylene-hexene copolymers produced using heterogeneous Ziegler-Natta catalysts in gas-phase reactors. The model uses a simplified reaction scheme to limit the number of parameters that must be estimated. The number of parameters is further reduced by assuming that different types of active sites share common rate constants for some reactions. Estimates of kinetic parameters are obtained using deconvolution analysis of industrial copolymer samples produced using a variety of isothermal steady-state operating conditions. The parameter estimates should prove useful as initial guesses for future parameter estimation in a non-isothermal model.

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