Process for the polymerization of olefins in solution comprising deactivating the polymerization catalyst by heat

A polymerization process, comprising:

• a) supplying a feed containing ethylene and at least one alpha-olefin having 3 to 12 carbon atoms in a hydrocarbon solvent to a polymerization reactor,
• b) contacting the feed of step a) in the polymerization reactor with a catalyst to form a reaction mixture containing an ethylene-alpha-olefin co-polymer,
• c) withdrawing the reaction mixture from the polymerization reactor as a reactor outlet stream which comprises the ethylene-alpha-olefin co-polymer, unreacted monomer and comonomer, catalyst, and hydrocarbon solvent,
• d) heating the reactor outlet stream to a temperature which is at least 5° C. higher than a temperature of the reaction mixture at an outlet of the polymerization reactor for a time period of between 1 and 250 seconds in order to de-activate the polymerization catalyst, and
• e) separating hydrocarbon solvent, monomer and comonomer from the reactor outlet stream and recycling it back to the polymerization reactor without further purification steps;
• wherein the polymerization catalyst is a metallocene catalyst, wherein the metallocene catalyst comprises a hafnocene catalyst;
• and
• wherein the hafnocene catalyst comprises a hafnocene catalyst complex, comprising a cyclopentadienyl (Cp) ligand, a fluorenyl (Flu) ligand and a covalent bridge connecting the two ligands.