Borealis Ag

Michiel Bergstra

Erik A Eriksson

Mohammad Al-Haj Ali

Pauli Leskinen

Per-Ola Hagstrand

Bo Malm

Klaus Nyfors

Vasileios Kanellopoulos

Jani Aho

Samuli Zitting

Christof Wurnitsch

Guhan Mathivanan

Günter Weickert

Torvald Vestberg

Magnus Palmlöf

Martin Anker

Markku Vahteri

Sameer Vijay

Henry Sleijster

Pirjo Jääskeläinen

Siw Bodil Fredriksen

Leif Leiden

Cornelia Kock

Olli Tuominen

Jouni Takakarhu

John Severn

Gunter Weickert

Pablo Ivan Aguayo Arellano

Jukka Räsänen

Kai Hagane

Tuomas Noopila

Velichko Hristov

Erik Eriksson

Stefan Hochradl

Alexander Standler

Jari Hätönen

Manfred Jarzombek

Knut Fosse

Gert Stijnen

Charlotta Weber

Jukka Rasanen

The present invention relates to a process for reducing the volatile organic compound (VOC) content of plastomers the process comprising the steps of subjecting the plastomer in granular form containing VOCs which is contained in an aeration vessel to a gasflow, and withdrawing granular plastomer from the aeration vessel which has a lower content of VOCs, wherein the average particle size of the granular plastomer is greater than 2.5 mm, preferably greater than 2.7 mm, more preferably greater than 3.0 mm, wherein the gas has a minimum temperature of at least 26&#xb0; C. measured at a gas inlet of the aeration vessel, and a maximum temperature of 4&#xb0; C. below the Vicat temperature (10N, ISO 306) of the granular plastomer or 35&#xb0; C. measured at the gas inlet of the aeration vessel, whatever value is lower, and wherein at least a part of the withdrawn granular plastomer is recirculated to the aeration vessel.

Process for reducing the VOC content of plastomers

A process for reducing the volatile organic compound content of granular plastomers having a density of equal to or lower than 883 kg/mand a MFRof 100.0 g/10 min or lower (ISO 1133 at 2.16 kg load and 190&#xb0; C.), to below 65 ppm (VOC, VDA277), the process comprising the steps of providing a granular raw plastomer in a treatment vessel, the granular raw plastomer having a density of equal to or lower than 883 kg/m, and a MFRof 100.0 g/10 min or lower (ISO 1133 at 2.16 kg load and 190&#xb0; C.), and a volatile organic compound content (VOC, VDA277) of above 150 ppm, subjecting said granular raw plastomer to a gasflow within the range of 30 m/(h t) to 150 m/(h t) for an aeration time of less than 96 hours, whereby the gas has a minimum temperature of at least 26&#xb0; C. measured at a gas inlet of the treatment vessel and a maximum temperature of 4&#xb0; C. below the Vicat temperature (10 N, ISO 306) of the granular raw plastomer or 35&#xb0; C. measured at the gas inlet of the treatment vessel, whatever value is lower; and recovering the granular plastomer.

Process for obtaining low volatile plastomers

The present invention deals with a process for polymerising olefins in a solution and withdrawing a stream of the solution from the polymerisation reactor and passing it to a sequence of heating steps. The heated solution is passed to a separation step, which is conducted at a pressure of no more than 15 bar and in which separation step a liquid phase comprising the polymer and a vapour phase coexist. A vapour stream and a concentrated solution stream comprising the polymer are withdrawn from the separation step. At least a part of the vapour stream is passed to the first polymerisation reactor, to the second polymerisation reactor or to both.

Process and apparatus for in-line blending of polymers

An in-line blending process for polymers comprising: (a) providing two or more reactor-low pressure separator units () in parallel configuration, each reactor-low pressure separator unit comprising one reactor () fluidly connected to one low pressure separator () downstream and further a recycling line () connecting the low pressure separator () back to the corresponding reactor (); (b) polymerizing olefin monomers having two or more carbon atoms in each of the reactors () in solution polymerisation; (c) forming an unreduced reactor effluents stream including a homogenous fluid phase polymer-monomer-solvent mixture in each of the reactors (), (d) passing the unreduced reactor effluents streams from each of the reactors () through the corresponding low pressure separators (), whereby the temperature and pressure of the low pressure separators () is adjusted such that a liquid phase and a vapour phase are obtained, whereby yielding a polymer-enriched liquid phase and a polymer-lean vapour phase, and (e) separating the polymer-lean vapour phase from the polymer-enriched liquid phase in each of the low-pressure separators () to form separated polymer-lean vapour streams and separated polymer-enriched liquid streams; (f) combining the polymer-enriched liquid streams from step (e) in a further low-pressure separator and/or a mixer () to produce a combined polymer-enriched liquid stream (); (g) reintroducing the polymer-lean vapour streams from step (e) via recycling lines () into the corresponding reactors ().

In-line blending process

The present invention relates to a process for treating polyolefin granules in a treatment vessel comprising the steps of: &#x2014;Providing a bed of granules in liquid in said treatment vessel &#x2014;Withdrawing a first stream of liquid from said treatment vessel, wherein said first stream of liquid contains hydrocarboneous compounds &#x2014;introducing a first stream of vapor into said treatment vessel &#x2014;Withdrawing a second stream of vapor from said treatment vessel wherein said second stream of vapor contains volatile hydrocarboneous compounds &#x2014;Recovering the granules from said treatment vessel wherein said first stream of vapor has a temperature from Tb to Tb+10&#xb0; C., wherein Tb is the boiling point of the liquid at the applied pressure, and said first stream of vapor produces an upwards rising vapor stream in said treatment vessel, the superficial vapor velocity of which is no more than 0.2 m/s, and a plant suitable for conducting said process.

Removing volatile compounds from polymer granules by vapour distillation

The invention relates to a reactor assembly for the production of polymers including a fluidized bed reactor () comprising a bottom zone (), a middle zone () and an upper zone (), an inlet () for the fluidization gas located in the bottom zone (), an outlet () for the fluidization gas located in the upper zone (); the outlet () for the fluidization gas being coupled with the fluidized bed reactor () via inlet (); the equivalent cross-sectional diameter of the bottom zone () being monotonically increasing with respect to the flow direction of the fluidization gas through the fluidized bed reactor; the middle zone () having an essentially constant equivalent cross-sectional diameter with respect to the flow direction of the fluidization gas through the fluidized bed reactor; the equivalent cross-sectional diameter of the upper zone () being monotonically decreasing with respect to the flow direction of the fluidization gas through the fluidized bed reactor; wherein that the ratio of the height of the fluidized bed reactor to the equivalent cross-sectional diameter of the middle zone of the fluidized bed reactor is from 2 to 10; and wherein there is an unobstructed passageway in the direction of flow of the fluidization gas through the fluidized bed reactor from the bottom zone () to the upper zone ().

Flexible reactor assembly for polymerization of olefins

Reactor assembly for the production of polymers including a fluidized bed reactor () comprising a bottom zone (), a middle zone () and an upper zone (), an inlet () for the fluidization gas located in the bottom zone (), an outlet () for the fluidization gas located in the upper zone (); the outlet () for the fluidization gas being coupled with the fluidized bed reactor () via inlet () via a gas circulation line; means for separation of solids from gas () being connected to said gas circulation line; the equivalent cross-sectional diameter of the upper zone () being monotonically decreasing with respect to the flow direction of the fluidization gas through the fluidized bed reactor; the middle zone () having an essentially constant equivalent cross-sectional diameter with respect to the flow direction of the fluidization gas through the fluidized bed reactor; the equivalent cross-sectional diameter of the bottom zone () being monotonically increasing with respect to the flow direction of the fluidization gas through the fluidized bed reactor; characterized in that the ratio of the height of the fluidized bed reactor to the equivalent cross-sectional diameter of the middle zone of the fluidized bed reactor is from 2 to 10; and whereby said upper zone () is directly connected to said middle zone ().

High throughput reactor assembly for polymerization of olefins

Heterophasic propylene copolymer comprising (a) a matrix (M) being a polypropylene (PP), said polypropylene (PP) has a polydispersity index (PI) of at least 5.0, and (b) an elastomeric propylene copolymer (EC) dispersed in said matrix (M), wherein (i) said heterophasic propylene copolymer has a melt flow rate MFR(230&#xb0; C.) of equal or below 1.0 g/10 min, (ii) the amorphous phase (AM) of the xylene cold soluble fraction (XCS) of the heterophasic propylene copolymer has an intrinsic viscosity (IV) of at least 3.5 dl/g.

Heterophasic polypropylene with excellent creep performance

The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of a propylene copolymer P1 having ethylene-derived comonomer units, which comprises the following steps: (i) introducing propylene, ethylene, and hydrogen into a polymerisation reactor R1, wherein the ethylene is fed to the polymerisation reactor R1 in a periodically varying amount, (ii) preparing the propylene copolymer in the polymerisation reactor R1 in the presence of a catalyst.

Preparation of propylene copolymer with dynamically operated reactor

Coating composition comprising an ethylene copolymer containing not more than 5 mole-% comonomer, whereby the fraction of the ethylene copolymer having a molecular weight of 300 000 g/mol-600 000 g/mol has a methyl branching of more than 4.0 Methyl per 1000 C as determined by SEC/FT-IR analysis.

Coating composition

The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of a propylene homo- or copolymer, comprising the following steps: (i) feeding propylene and hydrogen, and optionally one or more comonomers, to a reactor R1, wherein the hydrogen is fed to the reactor R1 in a periodically varying amount, (ii) preparing a first fraction of the propylene homo- or copolymer in the reactor R1 in the presence of a catalyst, (iii) transferring the first fraction to a reactor R2, and (iv) preparing a second fraction of the propylene homo- or copolymer in the reactor R2, wherein the melt flow rate MFR (2.16 kg, 230&#xb0; C.) of the propylene homo- or copolymer is higher than the melt flow rate MFR (2.16 kg, 230&#xb0; C.) of the first fraction.

Method to produce very stiff polypropylene

Growing community of inventors

Berchem, Belgium

Michiel Bergstra