PROCESS

Abstract

The present invention relates to a process for operating a polymer powder degasser vessel, and in particular provides a process for operating a polymer powder degasser vessel which vessel comprises a silo comprising a main vertical cylinder and a hopper at the bottom of the cylinder, there being a polymer powder withdrawal pipe connected to the hopper by which polymer powder is withdrawn from the hopper, and wherein the silo contains a polymer powder which occupies less than 45% of the volume of the silo and the polymer powder passes through the polymer powder degasser vessel in a mass flow manner, further wherein at least one of the following is applied: i) polymer powder is withdrawn from the hopper and recirculated to the silo, wherein the recirculation rate of the polymer powder is at least 30 percent per hour of the polymer powder present in the silo, and ii) a purge gas is provided to the silo via the polymer powder withdrawal pipe or via an inlet located on the hopper at a vertical height which is less than half of height of the hopper from its bottom end.

Claims

1. Process for operating a polymer powder degasser vessel which vessel comprises a silo comprising a main vertical cylinder and a hopper at the bottom of the cylinder, there being a polymer powder withdrawal pipe connected to the hopper by which polymer powder is withdrawn from the hopper, and wherein the silo contains a polymer powder which occupies less than 45% of the volume of the silo, further wherein at least one of the following is applied: i) polymer powder is withdrawn from the hopper and recirculated to the silo, wherein the recirculation rate of the polymer powder is at least 30 percent per hour of the polymer powder present in the silo, and ii) a purge gas provided to the silo via the polymer powder withdrawal pipe or via an inlet located on the hopper at a vertical height which is less than half of height of the hopper from its bottom end.

2. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the polymer powder occupies less than 30% of the volume of the silo, such as less than 20% of the volume of the silo.

3. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the recirculation rate is at least 40 percent per hour of the polymer powder present in the silo.

4. Process for operating a polymer powder degasser vessel which comprises a silo comprising a main vertical cylinder and a hopper at the bottom of the cylinder, there being a polymer powder withdrawal pipe connected to the hopper by which polymer powder is withdrawn from the hopper, and which process comprises switching between a first set of conditions which are applied when the silo contains a first amount of polymer powder and a second set of conditions which are applied when the silo contains a second amount of the same polymer powder, the first and second amounts being different, and wherein at least one of the following applies: i) the second amount of polymer powder is greater than the first amount of polymer powder, and the flow rate at which polymer powder is withdrawn from the hopper and recirculated to the silo is less in the second set of conditions than in the first set of conditions, ii) the second amount of polymer powder is less than the first amount of polymer powder, and the flow rate at which polymer powder is withdrawn from the hopper and recirculated to the silo is higher in the second set of conditions than in the first set of conditions, iii) the locations by which purge gas is supplied to the silo differ in the second set of conditions compared to the first set of conditions.

5. A process as claimed in claim 4 wherein the lower amount of polymer powder is such that the polymer powder occupies less than 45% of the volume of the silo, more preferably less than 30% of the volume of the silo, such as less than 20% of the volume of the silo.

6. A process as claimed in claim 4 wherein the higher amount of polymer powder is such that the polymer powder occupies at least 50% of the volume of the silo, more preferably at least 60% of the volume of the silo, such as at least 70% by volume of the silo and/or the higher amount is such that the polymer powder occupies at least 20% by volume of the silo more than the lower amount, more preferably such that the polymer powder occupies at least 30% by volume of the silo more than the lower amount, such as at least 50% by volume of the silo more than the lower amount.

7. A process as claimed in claim 4 wherein the higher recirculation flow rate is at least 1 tonne per hour, such as at least 2 tonnes per hour, and most preferably at least 5 tonnes per hour for example 5 to 10 tonnes per hour and/or is at least 30% percent per hour of the polymer powder present in the silo, and more preferably at least 40 percent per hour of the polymer powder present in the silo.

8. A process as claimed in claim 4 wherein the lower recirculation flow rate is less than 50% of the higher recirculation flow rate, and preferably is zero.

9. A process as claimed in claim 4 wherein the silo comprises at least one inlet by which purge gas is provided which is located on the cylinder section of the silo (hereinafter cylinder inlet) and at least one inlet by which purge gas is provided to the silo via the polymer powder withdrawal pipe or via an inlet located on the hopper at a vertical height which is less than half of height of the hopper from its bottom end (hereinafter hopper inlet), and where the second amount of polymer powder is greater than the first amount of polymer powder then amount of purge gas which is introduced via the hopper inlet is less under the second set of conditions than the amount introduced via the hopper inlet under the first conditions, and vice versa.

10. A process as claimed in claim 9 where the larger amount of polymer powder occupies at least 50% by volume of the silo and no purge gas is applied to the hopper inlet under the corresponding set of conditions.

11. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the purge gas is provided to the silo via the polymer powder withdrawal pipe, for example via an inlet located on the polymer powder withdrawal pipe below the hopper.

12. A process according to claim 1 wherein there is provided a polymer powder inlet pipe connected to the polymer powder degasser vessel at a height located above the polymer powder and wherein the polymer powder is withdrawn from the hopper and recirculated via the polymer powder withdrawal pipe to a location upstream of the silo or to the silo at a height located above the polymer powder.

13. A process as claimed in claim 12 wherein the polymer powder inlet pipe is connected to the silo at a height located above the surface of the polymer powder inside the silo, preferably connected to the top of the silo, and most preferably connected to the top or the dome of the silo roof and more preferably to the centre of this top or dome.

14. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the polymer powder withdrawal pipe is connected to the bottom end of the cone of the hopper and preferably to the centre of the cone of the hopper.

15. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the polymer powder withdrawal pipe is divided into a main polymer powder withdrawal pipe and a secondary polymer powder recirculation pipe, the polymer powder recirculation pipe being preferably connected to a nitrogen pneumatic transport device which facilitates the recirculation of the powder to the top of the silo.

16. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the silo has a volume of at least 30 m.sup.3, such as in the range 30 to 500 m.sup.3, and more preferably a silo volume of at least 50 m.sup.3 and/or up to 400 m.sup.3.

17. A process for the polymerisation of olefins which comprises i) polymerising one or more olefins in a polymerisation reactor, preferably continuously, ii) passing polymer powder obtained from the polymerisation reactor to a polymer powder degasser vessel, and iii) operating the polymer powder degasser vessel according to the process of claim 1.

18. A process as claimed in claim 17 wherein the polymerization reactor is a gas phase reactor, a gas/liquid phase reactor or a slurry reactor, and preferably for the polymerisation of ethylene and/or propylene, most preferably for the polymerisation of ethylene either alone or with a comonomer selected from 1-butene, 1-hexene or 1-octene.

19. A process as claimed in claim 4 wherein the purge gas is provided to the silo via the polymer powder withdrawal pipe, for example via an inlet located on the polymer powder withdrawal pipe below the hopper.

20. A process according to claim 4 wherein there is provided a polymer powder inlet pipe connected to the polymer powder degasser vessel at a height located above the polymer powder and wherein the polymer powder is withdrawn from the hopper and recirculated via the polymer powder withdrawal pipe to a location upstream of the silo or to the silo at a height located above the polymer powder.

21. A process as claimed in claim 20 wherein the polymer powder inlet pipe is connected to the silo at a height located above the surface of the polymer powder inside the silo, preferably connected to the top of the silo, and most preferably connected to the top or the dome of the silo roof and more preferably to the centre of this top or dome.

22. A process as claimed in claim 4 wherein the polymer powder withdrawal pipe is connected to the bottom end of the cone of the hopper and preferably to the centre of the cone of the hopper.

23. A process as claimed in claim 4 wherein the polymer powder withdrawal pipe is divided into a main polymer powder withdrawal pipe and a secondary polymer powder recirculation pipe, the polymer powder recirculation pipe being preferably connected to a nitrogen pneumatic transport device which facilitates the recirculation of the powder to the top of the silo.

24. A process as claimed in claim 4 wherein the silo has a volume of at least 30 m.sup.3, such as in the range 30 to 500 m.sup.3, and more preferably a silo volume of at least 50 m.sup.3 and/or up to 400m.sup.3.

25. A process for the polymerisation of olefins which comprises i) polymerising one or more olefins in a polymerisation reactor, preferably continuously, ii) passing polymer powder obtained from the polymerisation reactor to a polymer powder degasser vessel, and iii) operating the polymer powder degasser vessel according to the process of claim 4.

26. A process as claimed in claim 25 wherein the polymerization reactor is a gas phase reactor, a gas/liquid phase reactor or a slurry reactor, and preferably for the polymerisation of ethylene and/or propylene, most preferably for the polymerisation of ethylene either alone or with a comonomer selected from 1-butene, 1-hexene or 1-octene.

Description

[0091] FIGS. 1 and 2 describe process configurations which can be used in the present invention.

[0092] With reference to FIG. 1, a polymer powder is withdrawn from a fluidised bed gas phase polymerisation reactor (I) and passed via a line (2) into a polymer powder degasser vessel comprising a silo (S) the silo comprising a main vertical cylinder (3), a hopper (4) and a polymer powder withdrawal pipe (5). Polymer powder is withdrawn from the silo (S) via line (5). A portion of the polymer powder is separated in a diverter valve and using a conveying gas from a line 7, for example nitrogen, is recycled via a recycle line (6) to the top of the polymer degasser vessel. Withdrawn polymer which is not recycled is conveyed, for example using nitrogen as a conveying gas from line 8, via line 9 to further processing (not shown in FIG. 1).

[0093] In another embodiment, which is described in FIG. 2, there is provided a degassing train which comprises a primary degasser vessel comprising a silo S1, a secondary degasser vessel comprising a silo S2 and a final degasser vessel comprising a silo S3. In this case each of the degasser vessels comprises a main vertical cylinder, a hopper and a polymer powder withdrawal pipe as in FIG. 1 (although these have not been labelled to ease clarity of FIG. 2). Polymer recovered from the primary degasser vessel is passed (in this case by gravity) to the secondary degasser vessel, whilst polymer from the secondary degasser vessel is passed via line 9a, using a conveying gas from 8a, to the final degasser vessel.

[0094] It can be noted that the primary degasser vessel in this FIG. 2 is not operated according to the invention as neither a recirculation line nor a purge gas is provided.

[0095] In contrast, however, each of the secondary and final degasser vessels comprise a recycle line (6a, 6b) by which a portion of the polymer powder separated in a diverter valve and, using a conveying gas from line 7a, 7b, can be recirculated to the respective silo. In the secondary degasser vessel this line (7a) is to the top of the polymer degasser vessel. In the final degasser vessel, the recirculated polymer is recirculated to the top of a surge capacity (10) which is provided in the final degasser vessel above the silo (S3). (The top of the silo and the bottom of the surge capacity is defined here by the height at which the degasser vessel starts to expand in diameter.)

[0096] The secondary degasser also comprises a line 11a by which a purge gas, such as nitrogen, can be supplied to the silo (S2). In particular, this purge gas line is split into a first line (12a) which feeds to an inlet on the polymer powder withdrawal pipe (hopper inlet and a second line (13a) which feeds to an inlet on the main vertical cylinder.

[0097] Similarly, the final degasser comprises a line 11b by which a purge gas, such as nitrogen, can be supplied to the silo (S3), and in particular via a first line (12b) which feeds to an inlet on the polymer powder withdrawal pipe (hopper inlet) and a second line (13b) which feeds to an inlet on the main vertical cylinder.

[0098] Polymer withdrawn from the final degasser and not recirculated is passed to further processing, which in this FIG. 2 is exemplified by an extruder (14).

[0099] It can be noted that FIG. 2 describes two embodiments for the recirculation with the recirculation line 6a being directly connected to the upper part of the silo S2 and the recirculation line 6b being connected upstream of the silo S3 (and in particular via a bag filter).

[0100] As shown in FIG. 2, the recirculation line 6a joins the polymer powder inlet line upstream of the secondary degasser vessel. It will be apparent that this line could equally recirculate separately to the secondary degasser vessel via a separate inlet. As shown in FIG. 2, the recirculation line 6b is passed to a filter (not labelled) along with the polymer powder line 9a from the secondary degasser vessel, and then the combined stream is passed from the filter to the final degasser vessel. It will be apparent that this line 6b could equally recirculate separately to the final degasser vessel via a separate inlet, for example also via a separate filter. It will also be apparent that this line could equally connect to line 9a upstream of the filter.

[0101] According to another embodiment not shown on the Figures, a surge capacity may also be integrated in parallel to a degasser vessel.