High-Pressure Polymerization of Ethene: Kinetic Investigation of Copolymerization and Chain-Transfer Reactions
Sebastian Wilhelm
The present work deals with the experimental investigation of the high-pressure polymerization of ethene on a laboratory scale. In the first, more technically oriented part, an existing polymerization miniplant is improved and an experimental methodology for kinetic experiments is introduced. This is validated in the further course of the work on two reaction steps: The kinetic investigation of the ethene-propene copolymerization and the quantification of the transfer activity of various hydrocarbons. In the first case, the reactivity ratios of both monomers will be analyzed using 13C NMR spectroscopy. In the latter case, the transfer constants of multiple alkanes and olefins will first be determined experimentally and subsequently by using a kinetic model in order to assess the plausibility of the data. Quantifying the impacts of temperature, pressure and the chemical structure of the considered hydrocarbons helps to generate kinetic data that can further be used to describe the high-pressure process.
