Study of Ziegler-Natta/(2-PhInd)2ZrCl2 hybrid catalysts performance in slurry propylene polymerization

Document Type : Original research

Authors

1 Department of Polymer engineering, School of Chemical and Material Engineering, Islamic Azad University (Shiraz Branch), P.O. Box. 71993-3, Shiraz, Iran

2 Polymerization Engineering Department, Iran Polymer and Petrochemical Institute (IPPI), P.O. Box 14965/115, Tehran, Iran

3 Petrochemical Department, Iran Polymer and Petrochemical Institute (IPPI), P.O. Box 14965/115, Tehran, Iran

4 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, P.O. Box 1436, Mashhad, Iran

5 Catalyst Department, Iran Polymer and Petrochemical Institute (IPPI), P.O. Box 14965/115, Tehran, Iran

6 The George and Josephine Butler Polymer Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-7200, USA

Abstract

Several types of hybrid catalysts are made through mixing of 4th generation Ziegler-Natta (ZN) and (2-PhInd)2ZrCl2  metallocene catalysts using triethylaluminum (TEA) as coupling agent. Response surface methodology (RSM) is used to evaluate the interactive effects of different parameters including amounts of metallocene and TEA and temperature on metallocene loading. Analyzing the amounts of Al and Zr elements in the hybrid catalysts through ICP-OES and EDXA reveals that temperature plays a crucial role on anchoring of the metallocene catalyst on ZN while TEA has the least determining effect. The ICP analysis shows that as the concentration of Al goes up in the hybrid catalyst the concentration of Zr passes a maximum, while EDXA shows a direct relationship between the Al and Zr contents. Using triisobutylaluminum (TIBA) and methylaluminoxane (MAO) as the coupling agents, almost similar metallocene loadings are observed. Finally, the performance of hybrid catalysts is investigated in propylene polymerization and the obtained polymers are characterized using DSC and DMTA through which the presence of two types of polymers in the final product are confirmed.

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References

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History

  • Receive Date: 04 September 2014
  • Revise Date: 18 February 2015
  • Accept Date: 11 March 2015
  • First Publish Date: 01 June 2015

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