Study of PSD in gas phase PE production in industrial scale: Effects of process parameters

Control of polymer particle size and particle size distribution (PSD) is a key issue in gas-phase fluidized bed ethylene polymerization. Very fine particles limit reactor capacity andcan cause operational problems within the reactor (fluidized bed) or in heat exchangers, compressors and the gasdistribution grid[1,2].Published papers are mostly focused on the modelling of PSD or the overall polymerization process, with polymer PSD in the reactor being neglected. This article briefly presents results of PSD studies from an industrial scale plant