Progress in describing particle growth for polyolefins: a look at particle morphology

Discussion focuses on the strengths and weaknesses of current methods of modelling particle growth, and heat and mass transfer during the polymerisation of olefins on supported Ziegler-Natta Catalysts. It is demonstrated that improvements need to be made in the area of mass transfer models in the form of a mechanistic description of particle morphology. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is used to examine particle morphology. Simplified models of particle growth demonstrate the need to include convection in gas phase processes and a better description of particle morphology.