Polymerization of olefins through heterogeneous catalysis. III. Polymer particle modelling with an analysis of intraparticle heat and mass transfer effects

Propylene and ethylene polymerization in liquid and gas media are described by a multigrain particle model. Intraparticle heat and mass transfer effects are investigated for a range of catalyst activities. For slurry polymerization, intraparticle mass transfer effects may be significant at both the macroparticle and microparticle level; however, for normal gas phase polymerization, microparticle mass transfer effects appear more likely to be important. Intraparticle temperature gradients would appear to be negligible under most normal operating conditions.