In-reactor design of polyolefin branch-block copolymers

PMSE 261

Armenag H. Dekmezian, armenag.h.dekmezian@exxonmobil.com, Eric J. Markel, and Weiqing Weng, weiqing.weng@exxon.com. Baytown Polymers Center, ExxonMobil Chemical Company, 5200 Bayway Drive, Baytown, TX 77522
Complex polyolefin molecular architectures emerge when multiple catalysts are laoowed to operate within multiple reactor environments. This talk will focus on the in-reactor synthesis of polyolefin macromonomers and their assembly into a distribution of branch-block architectures with star, comb, and hyperbranched topologies. Reactor engineering models are used to predict the reactor product distribution. The performance of some of these branch-block copolymers is compared to thaose of Kraton triblock copolymers produced via anionic polymerization.