Polymer flake degassing system and methods
AssigneeChevron Phillips Chemical Company LP
InventorsKenneth A. Dooley, Jeffrey S. Lowell, Joseph Curren
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Abstract
Systems and methods for improved degassing of polymer flake are provided herein. These systems include a polymerization reactor configured to polymerize one or more olefin monomers and produce a product stream comprising solid polymer flake entrained in a fluid; a flash chamber configured to separate the solid polymer flake from the fluid and to produce a fluid stream and a concentrated stream; and a first degassing chamber configured to separate the concentrated stream by contacting the concentrated stream with a purge fluid comprising one or more light hydrocarbons to produce a partially degassed polymer flake stream and a purge fluid stream.
Claims20
A system for polymerizing one or more olefin monomers, comprising:
- a polymerization reactor configured to polymerize one or more olefin monomers and produce a product stream comprising solid polymer flake entrained in a fluid;
- a flash chamber configured to separate the solid polymer flake from the fluid and to produce a fluid stream and a concentrated stream, wherein the fluid stream comprises the solid polymer flake in a lower concentration than in the product stream and the concentrated stream comprises the solid polymer flake in a higher concentration than in the product stream;
- a first degassing chamber configured to separate the concentrated stream by contacting the concentrated stream with a purge fluid comprising one or more light hydrocarbons to produce a partially degassed polymer flake stream and a purge fluid stream, wherein the partially degassed polymer flake stream comprises the fluid in a lower concentration than in the concentrated stream and the purge fluid stream comprises the solid polymer flake in a lower concentration than in the concentrated stream.
A process for polymerizing one or more olefin monomers comprising:
- polymerizing one or more olefin monomers in a polymerization reactor to form a product stream comprising solid polymer flake entrained in a fluid;
- passing the product stream to a flash chamber to produce a fluid stream and a concentrated stream of polymer flake entrained in the fluid, wherein the fluid stream comprises the solid polymer flake in a lower concentration than in the product stream and the concentrated stream comprises the solid polymer flake in a higher concentration than in the product stream;
- passing the concentrated stream to a first degassing chamber, wherein a first purge fluid comprising one or more light hydrocarbons contacts the concentrated stream to produce a partially degassed polymer flake stream and a purge fluid stream wherein the partially degassed polymer flake stream comprises the fluid in a lower concentration than in the concentrated stream and the purge fluid stream comprises the solid polymer flake in a lower concentration than in the concentrated stream.
The process of any one of claims 18-31, wherein the weight ratio of purge fluid to polymer flake in the concentrated stream is from about 0.005 to about 1.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.