Business and Technology of the Global Polyethylene Industry: An In-depth Look at the History, Technology, Catalysts, and Modern Commercial Manufacture of Polyethylene and Its Products

Book description

The history of the business and technology that was responsible for the enormous growth of the global polyethylene industry from the laboratory discovery in 1933 to reach an annual production of over 75 million metric tons in 2012 and become the leading plastic material worldwide. This book is an in-depth look at the history of the scientists and engineers that created the catalysts and the methods used for the modern commercial manufacture of polyethylene and its products.

The book outlines the processes used for the manufacture of polyethylene are reviewed which include the high-pressure process and the three low-pressure processes; slurry, solution and the gas-phase methods. The techniques used to fabricate polyethylene into end-use products are reviewed with a discussion of blow-molding, injection molding, rotational molding, blown-film, cast-film and thermoforming are also discussed in detail.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half Title page
  3. Title page
  4. Copyright page
  5. Preface
  6. Chapter 1: Global Polyethylene Business Overview
    1. 1.1 Introduction
    2. 1.2 The Business of Polyethylene
    3. 1.3 Cyclical Nature of the Polyethylene Business
    4. 1.4 Early History of Ethylene and Polyethylene Manufacturing
    5. References
  7. Chapter 2: Titanium-Based Ziegler Catalysts for the Production of Polyethylene
    1. 2.1 Introduction
    2. 2.2 Titanium-Based Catalyst Developments
    3. 2.3 Titanium-Based Catalysts for the Manufacture of Polyethylene
    4. 2.4 Second Generation Ziegler Catalyst for the Manufacture of Polyethylene
    5. 2.5 Catalysts Prepared on Silica
    6. 2.6 Characterization of Catalysts Prepared with Calcined Silica, Dibutylmagnesium or Triethylaluminum and TiCl4
    7. 2.7 Kinetic Mechanism in the Multi-site Mg/Ti High-Activity Catalysts
    8. References
    9. Appendix 2.1
  8. Chapter 3: Chromium-Based Catalysts
    1. 3.1 Part I – The Phillips Catalyst
    2. 3.2 Part II – Chromium-Based Catalysts Developed by Union Carbide
    3. 3.3 Next Generation Chromium-Based Ethylene Polymerization Catalysts for Commercial Operations
    4. References
  9. Chapter 4: Single-Site Catalysts Based on Titanium or Zirconium for the Production of Polyethylene
    1. 4.1 Overview of Single-Site Catalysts
    2. 4.2 Polyethylene Structure Attained with a Single-Site Catalyst
    3. 4.3 Historical Background
    4. 4.4 Single-Site Catalyst Based on (BuCp)2ZrCl2/ MAO and Silica for the Gas-Phase Manufacture of Polyethylene
    5. 4.5 Activation of the Metallocenes Cp2ZrCl2 or (BuCp)2ZrCl2 by Solid Acid Supports
    6. 4.6 Dow Chemical Company Constrained Geometry Single-Site Catalysts (CGC)
    7. 4.7 Novel Ethylene Copolymers Based on Single-Site Catalysts
    8. 4.8 Non-Metallocene Single-Site Catalysts
    9. 4.9 New Ethylene Copolymers Based on Single-Site Catalysts
    10. 4.10 Compatible Metallocene/Ziegler Catalyst System
    11. 4.11 Next Generation Catalysts
    12. References
    13. Appendix 4.I
  10. Chapter 5: Commercial Manufacture of Polyethylene
    1. 5.1 Introduction
    2. 5.2 Commercial Process Methods
    3. 5.3 Global Polyethylene Consumption
    4. 5.4 High-Pressure Polyethylene Manufacturing Process
    5. 5.5 Free-Radical Polymerization Mechanism for High-Pressure Polyethylene
    6. 5.6 Organic Peroxides as Free-Radical Source for Initiation Process
    7. 5.7 Structure of High-Pressure LDPE
    8. 5.8 Low-Pressure Process
    9. 5.9 Gas-Phase Process
    10. 5.10 Gas-Phase Process Licensors
    11. 5.11 Solution Process
    12. 5.12 DuPont Sclair Process
    13. 5.13 Solution Process (2012)
    14. References
  11. Chapter 6: Fabrication of Polyethylene
    1. 6.1 Introduction
    2. 6.2 Early History of Polyethylene Fabrication (1940–1953)
    3. 6.3 Stabilization of Polyethylene
    4. 6.4 Historical Overview of Some Common Polyethylene Additives
    5. 6.5 Examples of Additives Presently Used in the Polyethylene Industry (2012)
    6. 6.6 Rheological Properties of Polyethylene
    7. 6.7 Fabrication of Film
    8. 6.8 Blown Film Extrusion
    9. 6.9 Fabrication of Polyethylene with Molding Methods
    10. 6.10 Rotational Molding
    11. 6.11 Thermoforming
    12. References
  12. Chapter 7: Experimental Methods for Polyethylene Research Program
    1. 7.1 Introduction
    2. 7.2 Experimental Process
    3. 7.3 Important Considerations for Laboratory Slurry (Suspension) Polymerization Reactors
    4. 7.4 Polymerization Reactor Design for High-Throughput Methods
    5. 7.5 Polymer Characterization
    6. 7.6 Process Models
    7. References
  13. Index

Product information

  • Title: Business and Technology of the Global Polyethylene Industry: An In-depth Look at the History, Technology, Catalysts, and Modern Commercial Manufacture of Polyethylene and Its Products
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: October 2014
  • Publisher(s): Wiley-Scrivener
  • ISBN: 9781118945988