Development of antistatic agents for commercial gas-phase polyolefin reactors

细粒聚合物粉末在气相聚合反应器和粉末传输管道中可能会产生静电电荷，当高电荷的粉末附着在反应器壁上时，可能会由于颗粒-颗粒粘附和反应器结垢而形成团块，导致不良副产物和商用反应器的过早关闭。由于缺乏合适的工具来量化粉末电荷和粉末成分的复杂性，聚合物粉末的静电学研究通常很少。基于我们近年来获得的丰富经验，我们建议应用两种新技术，一种原位电荷监测装置和一种在线法拉第杯流化床测试装置，与卡尔加里的NOVA化学公司合作，探索用于控制和减少商业气相聚合反应器中静电电荷的潜在抗静电剂。拟议的工作重点是在UBC的实验室测试单元和NOVA化学研究中心的中试工厂测试单元中量化各种聚烯烃粉末和抗静电剂的充电特性。对静电电荷产生机制的进一步理解和从这项工作中开发的新技术有望帮助工业界制定新的策略来减少商业反应堆中的电荷产生和积聚，从而提高生产率并防止由于反应堆结垢而导致的过程过早关闭。

Fine polymer powders may acquire electrostatic charges in gas-phase polymerization reactors and powder transfer lines, which may give rise to formation of agglomerates due to particle-particle adhension and reactor fouling when Highly charged powders adhere to reactor walls, leading to undesirable by-products and premature shut-down of the commercial reactors.      Electrostatics has generally been poorly explored for polymeric powders due to the lack of suitable tools for quantifying powder charges and the complexity of powder compositions. Based on our extensive experience attained in recent years, we propose to apply two novel techniques, one in-situ charge monitoring device and one on-line Faraday cup fluidized bed test unit, to explore potential antistatic agents for control and reduction of electrostatic charges in commercial gas-phase polymerization reactors, in collaboration with NOVA Chemicals company in Calgary. The proposed work focuses on quantifying charging characteristics of various polyolefin powders and antistatic agents in both laboratory test units located at UBC and pilot plant test unit located at NOVA Chemicals research centre. The improved understanding of electrostatic charge generation mechanisms and new technologies to be developed from this work are expected to help the industry to develop new strategies to reduce charge generation and buildup in commercial reactors, leading to increased productivity and the prevention of premature process shut-down due to reactor fouling.