Processes and apparatuses for conditioning polymer particles for an SSP reactor

A process for transferring semi-crystallized solid polymer particles from a crystallization bin to a solid-state polymerization reactor, the process comprising:

• passing polymer particles to a crystallization bin to increase a level of crystallization of the polymer particles, a temperature of the polymer particles, or both, and provide semi-crystallized solid polymer particles;
• passing, with a stream of inert gas, the semi-crystallized solid polymer particles from the crystallization bin to a pre-conditioning zone configured to adjust one or more of a temperature, a crystallinity, an acetaldehyde content, a water content, a dust content, or a combination of the foregoing of the semi-crystallized solid polymer particles and provide conditioned solid polymer particles;
• and,
• passing the conditioned solid polymer particles from the pre-conditioning zone to the solid-state polymerization reactor to increase a level of Intrinsic Viscosity of the conditioned solid polymer particles,
• wherein the pre-conditioning zone receives an inert gas stream, the inert gas stream comprising a portion of the stream of inert gas which passes the semi-crystallized solid polymer particles to the pre-conditioning zone and a portion of a gas stream from the solid-state polymerization reactor.