Dynamics of fragmentation of catalyst carriers in catalytic polymerization of olefins

A model capable to perform first principle based modeling of early stages of the growth of catalyst/polymer particles in catalytic polymerization of olefins is introduced. The polymer, the porous catalyst carrier and the void phase of the particle are discretized into micro-elements of several types coupled by force and mass transport interactions. We employ the introduced morphogenesis model to address selected experimental observations of the fragmentation stage of particle growth. Specifically, the capabilities of the model are demonstrated on the shrinking core and the continuous bisection fragmentation mode of porous catalyst carriers. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.