Chromate ester catalyst and method of using same to produce high performance polyethylene products

A process for polymerizing ethylene which comprises a reaction system comprising ethylene with a catalytic amount of a single catalyst resulting from the reaction of a promoter comprising a silyl chromate ester with a reducing agent, said promoter being deposited on a highly porous silica support having a minimum surface area of at least about 300 m2/gm, an average pore volume of at least about 2.0 cc/gm, and an average meso pore diameter of between about 350 Å and 1000 Å for a time and under process conditions selected to produce the polyethylene product having a PENT value of at least 1000 hours.

A process for producing a polyethylene product having a PENT value of at least 1000 hours comprising contacting ethylene and at least one comonomer selected from mono unsaturated alpha-olefins having from three to eight carbon atoms per molecule under suitable polymerization conditions with a single catalyst system prepared by combining a silyl chromate ester and a highly porous support consisting essentially of silica which has a minimum surface area of at least 300 m2/gm, an average pore volume of at least 2.0 cc/gm, an average meso pore diameter of between about 350 Å and 1000 Å and an organometallic reducing agent.