Development of antistatic agents for commercial gas-phase polyolefin reactors

聚合物细粉在气相聚合反应器和粉末传输线中可能会产生静电电荷，当高带电粉末附着在反应器壁上时，可能会由于颗粒间的粘结和反应器结垢而形成团聚，导致不良副产物和商业反应器的过早关闭。由于缺乏适当的工具来量化粉末电荷和粉末成分的复杂性，静电学在聚合物粉末中的探索普遍较少。基于我们近年来积累的丰富经验，我们建议与卡尔加里的Nova化学公司合作，应用两项新技术，一项是现场电荷监测装置，另一项是在线法拉第杯流态化试验装置，以探索潜在的抗静电剂，用于控制和减少商业气相聚合反应器中的静电电荷。拟议的工作重点是在位于UBC的实验室测试单元和位于Nova化学品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。随着人们对静电电荷产生机制和新技术认识的加深，这项工作有望帮助工业制定新的战略，以减少商业反应堆中的电荷产生和堆积，从而提高生产率和防止因反应堆污染而导致的工艺过早关闭。

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.