Bp Corporation North America Inc.

Bp Amoco Corporation

James Hanawalt Lee

Chi-Hung Lin

Barry F Wood

Joseph Michael Aubuchon

Kwok-Fu Lee

Daryl Henry Webster

Scott Ching-Sheng Hung

Improved apparatus for mechanically stirring a quench-cooled subfluidized particulate bed of polymerized monomer lowers lumping of polymer particles by using substantially contiguous paddle stations disposed along the drive shaft within the reactor in combination with a plurality of sub-stations in at least one paddle station class, each sub-station having a width along the shaft of no more than 50 percent of the total width of the paddle station, and sub-station paddles attached to the shaft at each sub-station so as to sweep through the particulate bed. In some embodiments, a first class of stations is, advantageously, disposed within the reactor along a portion of the drive shaft in repeating groups of at least two stations and a second class of stations with sub-stations is disposed within the reactor along another portion of the drive shaft, preferably in repeating groups of at least one more than the number of stations in the repeating group of the first class, to further reduce lumping of polymer particles.

Agitator for a horizontal polymerization reactor having contiguous paddle stations with paddles and sub-stations with sub-station paddles

Method and apparatus are described for continuous vapor phase polymerization of a polymerizable monomer or mixture thereof to produce normally solid polymer substances in two or more serially disposed vapor phase polymerization reactors, each containing a quench-cooled subfluidized particulate bed of polymerized monomer. More specifically, method and apparatus for transfer of polymer particles between high pressure, reactive gas-filled, continuous, vapor-phase polymerization reactors while maintaining each at independently selected operating conditions.

Transfer of polymer particles between vapor phase polymerization

Growing community of inventors

Naperville, IL, United States of America

James Hanawalt Lee