The Poly merization Micro-Pilot Plant, dev eloped by PID Eng&<strong>Tech</strong>, is designed f or continuous poly olef ins production at microscale. PID Eng&<strong>Tech</strong> in co-operation with important Research and <strong>Tech</strong>nology Centres (ICP-CSIC and URJC) by means of diff erent Collaboration Projects has dev eloped this pilot plant that <strong>com</strong>prises two liters continuous stirred-tank reactors that operate in series. This Micro-Pilot Plant is f ully automatized and all of the process parameters, as the solv ent, <strong>com</strong>onomer, operating pressure and temperature, residence time per reactor, etc., can be selected by user, or modif ied in a wide range. The plant includes a pre-treating raw material area and two reactor v essels followed, each one, of a f lash unit. PID Eng&<strong>Tech</strong>'s <strong>com</strong>puterized process control sy stems allow a direct control of temperature, lev el, pressure and gas <strong>com</strong>position in the reactors. The dev ices f or poly mer slurry driv ing between the diff erent reaction steps and f or solid addition hav e been studied in depth. These dev eloped mechanisms hav e been designed f or perf orming the process in microscale and is patent pending. The cataly st is continuously added into the f irst reactor. PID Eng&<strong>Tech</strong> has dev eloped in collaboration with ICP (Catalyst and Petrochemical Institute of CSIC, Spain), a sy stem, based in loops and actuated v alv es, patent pending that allows to load it continuously . FEATURES: Automated and <strong>com</strong>puterized laboratory-pilot plant for the study of polymers production Feed and conditioning of gas and liquid f eed stocks • Fiv e gas lines: two independent ethy lene f eed streams (0-4 l/min), one f or each reactor; one hy drogen stream (0-500 ml/min); one 1-butene stream (0-50 ml/min); and one nitrogen line f or inertization purposes. • Two solv ent (heptane) lines; a <strong>com</strong>mon stream is div ided in two, f eeding at real time with a H.P. Dosapro Milon-Roy pump (5-10 ml/min), one f or each reactor. • A cataly st line; catalyst is added like a slurry in heptane into f irst reactor; • A cocataly st line; cocataly st (e.g. TIBA) homogeneous solution in heptane is added to f irst reactor using a HPLC pump. Reactors and f lashes • The plant <strong>com</strong>prises three SS316 stirred tanks (1 or 2 l) with high pressure closure sy stem. The 1 st reactor works at 8 bar @ 80ºC, 1 st f lash, at P atm @ 40 ºC and 2 nd reactor, at 2.5 bar @ 80ºC. • Each one is prov ided with a magnetically coupled stirred head, a heating jacket, cooling coil, v alv es and accessories. Stirrer speed is controlled by Inv erter. • In addition to temperature and pressure control, the ethy lene/hy drogen, or the ethy lene/butane, <strong>com</strong>position relations are measure continuously , near-real time. • In this way , the integrated control pressure/relation loop allows the user to work holding simultaneously a stable desired pressure and a stable desired hy drogen/ethy lene (at the f irst reactor) and butene/ethy lene (at the second reactor) relations during the reaction time. Distributed control system All the process v ariables are controlled by distributed PID controllers. The control system modules are linked with PC by means of a <strong>Process</strong>@ sof tware f or remote control by digital <strong>com</strong>munications. The sy stem can be controlled manually or automatically , locally or remotely. All the process and control v ariables and parameters are registered in only one sof tware application. In addition, software allows the operator to design automatic procedures f or design and automate the run. Security system Plant has sev eral independent saf ety lev els: automatic switch off in case of any problem, pressure, lev el and temperature security systems; all of that based on a Programmable logic controller (PLC) dev ice independent of PC. PLC manages the alarm signals f rom controllers. In addition, actuated v alv es are conf igured according to good saf ety practices. 22
POLYMERIZATION MICROPLANT PI DIAGRAM PROCESS@ SOFTWARE 23
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