CA1137965A

CA1137965A - Polymerization catalyst and method

Info

Publication number: CA1137965A
Application number: CA000351443A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Mitsuzo Shida; Raymond E. Hoff; Thomas J. Pullukat
Original assignee: Chemplex Co
Current assignee: Equistar Chemicals LP
Priority date: 1979-08-01
Filing date: 1980-05-07
Publication date: 1982-12-21
Also published as: JPS6118921B2; DE3028759C2; SE449107B; BE884513A; FR2462447A1; US4263171A; GB2055859B; GB2055859A; DE3028759A1; IT1145690B; IT8048894A0; JPS5624409A; SE8005476L; FR2462447B1

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
An olefin polymerization and copolymerization catalyst active in the presence of an alkyl aluminum cocatalyst is prepared by mixing, in the presence of a solvent, particles of a silica or alumina material having reactive surface groups, and a complex of the general formula (MgR2)m(AlR?)n where R and R' are alkyl groups and m/n is between about 0.5 and 10, inclusive, to form a hydrocarbon insoluble reaction product which is then mixed, in the presence of a sol-vent, with a titanium, vanadium or zirconium halide, oxyhalide or alkoxyhalide, followed by evaporation of the solvent.

Description

~3~g6~
!

POLYMERIZATION CAT~LYST AND METHOD

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The titanium catalyst of this invention is highly active and is suitable for polymerization of ethylene and other l-olefins, particularly of 2-8 carbon atoms, and co-polymeriza~ion of these with l-olefins of 2-20 carbon atoms, such as propylene, butene and hexene, for example, to form copolymers of low- and medium-densities. It is equally well suited for particle form and gas phase polymerization processes, and is especially effective in the ~selective production of high-density polyethylene having a narrow molecular weight distribution and high melt index for injection molding applications. The catalyst is also well `~ suited for the production of high-strength fibers or film having a low melt index~
The catalyst does not require an excess of titanium and therefore obviates the need for removal of catalyst residues from product polymer. The cata-lyst is suitable for use in particle form polymerization plants designed for prior silica-supported chromium oxide catalysts. Heretofore, titanium catalysts have not been extensively used in such plants due to the substantial excess of corrosive titanium compounds ~ypically used in the preparation of~such catalysts.
The present catalyst is easily injected into particle form reactors by means of well known automatic feeding valves, and corrosion-resistant materials of construc-; tion are not required.

~t~

' ~ ;, ~7~

-2- !
SU~IARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention in one aspect pertains to an olefin poly-merization`and copolymerization catalyst active in the presence of an alkyl aluminum cocatalyst prepared by mixing, in the presence of a solvent, reactive materials comprising dry particles of an inorganic oxide having active surface hydroxyl or oxide groups chosen from the group consisting of silica, alumina and silica-alumina and a complex of the general formula (Mg~2)m(AlR3)n where R and R' are alkyl groups and m/n is between about 0.5 and 10, inclusive, to form a hydrocarbon insoluble first reaction product, and mixing the first reaction product in the presence of a solvent with a halide, oxyhalide or alkoxyhalide of a metal chosen from the group consisting of titanium, vanadium and zirconium to form a second reaction product, and evaporating the solvent from the second reaction product.
The catalyst is prepared by the consecutive steps of: -(a) reacting dry particles of an inorganic oxide hav-ing active surface hydroxyl or oxide groups chosen from the group consisting essentially of silica, alumina and silica-alumina in the presence of a hydrocarbon solvent with a complex of the gen-eral formula (MgR2)m(AlR3)n wherein R and R' are alkyl groups and m/n is between about 0.5 and 10, inclusive, ~o form a first reaction product insoluble in the solvent;
(b) reacting the first reaction product in the pre-sence of a hydrocarbon solvent with a halogen-containing transition metal compound to form a second reaction product, the transition metal compound being selected from the group consisting essentially of Tr(OR")aX4 a and TrOX3, wherein Tr is a transition metal selec-ted from the group consisting essentially of titanium, vanadium, 3n and zirconium, R'' is an alkyl group of less than about 20 carbon atoms, ~ is a halogen atom, and a is zero or an integer less than 4; and (c) evaporating the solvent from the second reaction product.
The invention also comprehends the method of making polymers of one or more l-olefins which comprises polymerizing the olefins under polymerizing conditions with the catalyst herein and an alkyl aluminum cocatalyst.
The c~talyst component prepared according to the fore going is active in the presence of an effective quantity of an ;;
alkyl aluminum cocatalyst, preferably comprising a trialkyl aluminum compound.
\

. . ~, . . .

.3~
!

_3~

The inorgan~c oxide materi~l is utilized in finely divided form and preferably i5 preactivated by heating in an inert atmosphere at temperatures of up to about 900C.
Titanium compounds are preferred transition metal compounds for highest reactivity.
The transition metal compound is reacted with the reaction product of the magnesium-aluminum complex and the inorganic material, preferably in equimolar ratio,- so that the resultant solid cataly-st component incorporates substantially all of the titanium in a highly active form. It is therefore unnecessary to remove non-reactive titanium from the catalyst or from product polymer, as opposed to prior titanium catalysts which require excessive titanium during preparation.
The catalyst is, because of its high activity, equally well suited for use in the particle form polymerization process in which the solid catalyst component, the cocatalyst, and olefin monomer are contacted in a suitable solvent, such as the solvent used in the catalyst forming reaction, or in a gas phase process in which no solvent is necessary.
~` Product polymer melt index (MI) is readily controlled by polymerization temperature control, or by hydrogen addition. Due to the catalyst's high activity, a relatively high partial pressure of hydrogen may be used in order to result in a high product melt index. Also, the catalyst's high activity makes feasible copolymerization of olefins less reactive than ethylene.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
I. Preparation of the Inorganic Oxide Material ` The reaction product catalyst of the inven--~ tion is formed and is bonded to the surface of the inorganic oxide materials by reaction with active "` surface hydroxyl or oxide groups thereof. Polymeri-zation reaction efficiency is dependent, to some extent, upon the physical characteristics, such as .~ :

~L~3~

surface area, of the inorganic oxide material. There-fore, it is preferred to utilize the inorganic oxide material in finely divided form. The amount of tita-nium compound is determined with respect to the amount of magnesium-aluminum complex, within limits.
Suitable inorganic oxide materials include silica, alumina and silica-alumina, with silica being preferred. The inorganic oxide may contain small amounts of materials such as magnesia, titania, zirconia and thoria~ among others.
It is necessary to dry and preactivate the inorganic oxide matexial by heating in an inert at-mosphere at an elevated temperature before contact with the magnesium-aluminum complex. In the case of Davison Chemical Company Grade 952 silica, optimum catalyst reactivities are obtained at an activation temperature of about 600C in a nitrogen atmosphere, although satisfactory results are obtained at temper-atures between about 200C and 900C.

II. Catalyst-Forming Reactants 1. Magnesium-aluminum Alkyl Complex Particles of the dried and preactivated ;
inorganic oxide material are initially reacted with an organomagnesium-aluminum complex of the general formula (MgR2)m (AlR3)n in which R and R' are the same or different alkyl groups and the ratio m/n is within the range of about 0.5 to about 10, and preferably `;
between about 2 and 10.
The alkyl groups R bonded to the magnesium atom may be the same or different, and each has between 2 and 12 carbon atoms. When the R groups are identica~ ;
it is preferred that each has at least 4 carbon atoms, ~a~3~

and are preferably butyl or hexyl groups. The alkyl groups R' are preferably ethyl groups.
The reaction between the magnesium-aluminum complex and the inorganic oxide particles is carried out in a solvent, preferably at room temperature for convenience. The catalyst-forming reactions may be carried out at higher or lower temperatures, if desired.
The amount of the magnesium-aluminum complex is chosen such that the total number of moles of mag-nesium and aluminum is between about 0.1 to 10 timesthe number of moles of transition metal, the amount of which is chosen with reference to the weight of in-organic oxide, as is described below. It is preferred that magnesium and aluminum be present in equimolar ratio to the transition metal compound.
The magnesium-aluminum complex is known in the art, as disclosed in Aishima et al. 4,004,071 (January 18, 1977) at col. 2, 11. 34-40 and col. 3, ll~ 30-36~ The complex is readily prepared according to the teachings of Ziegler et al., O~anomQ~ c Compou~qd~ XXIZ: ~Lga~mag~ um-Aeum~umlCump~Qx Comp~u~
Annalen der Chemie, Vol. 605/ pages 93~97 (1957)o .
2. Transit on Metal Compound After the inorganic oxide particles are com-25 pletely reacted with the organomagnesium-aluminum com- i plex, a selecteA halogen-containing transition metal compound is reacted with the resulting hydrocarbon ;insoluble reaction product to form an active solid catalyst component. The catalyst-forming reaction is 30 carried out in a solvent, preferably a hydrocarbon, and ~`
preferably at room temperature.
The transition metal compound is selected . , .

~; ~
"''; -`~ -~ .37~

from those of the general formula Tr(OR)aX4 a or TrOX3 wherein Tr is titanium, vanadium or zirconium, R is an alkyl group of less than about 20 carbon atoms, X is a halogen atom and a is zero or an integer less than 4.
Suitable transition metal halides include TiC14, Ti(OR)C13, Ti(OR)2C12, Ti(OR)3Cl, VOC13, VC14, ZrC14 and others commonly used in conventional Ziegler catalysts.
For optimum reactivity, the transition metal 10 is added to the inorganic oxide-magnesium-aluminum complex reaction product in equimolar ratio to the total magnesium and aluminum present. For each mole of organomagnesium-a~uminum complex, the number of moles of transition metal should equal m ~ n.
The ratio of transition metal compound with respect to the inorganic oxide material may vary over a relatively wide range, although it has been found that the best results are obtained with a transition metal content of between about 0.25 and 1.0-mmoles per mmole 20 of active surface hydroxyl and oxide groups on the `
inorganic oxide material. Preferabiy, between 0.6 and 2.5 mmoles of transition metal compound should be added ;
to the reaction mixture per gram of inorganic oxide -~
material. i ::j 25 III. Solvent Evaporation ~fter formation of the solid catalyst compo- ;~
; nent by reaction of the transition metal compound with the inorganic oxide-magnesium aluminum complex reaction product, the solvent present in the catalyst-forming -~
30 reaction must be evaporated under an inert atmosphere.
For example~ evaporation may occur at a temperature ; ` between about 90C and 100~C under a nitrogen atmos-.

-. ~ : . ,, ., . :, ....................... ,, ": .
. , - , , , ~ , ,,: .

~3'~ 5 1 phere for from about 1/2 to 10 hours, or until dry.
Solvent evaporation is necessary to ensure that product polymer is formed in small particles suitable for a particle form process rather than in sheets, fibers or chunks which rapidly foul the reactor and decrease reaction efficiency.
After solvent evaporation, the catalyst may advantageously be added to a solvent for reaction there-in, as in the particle form polymerization process. The 10 solvent added to the catalyst may be the same solvent used in the catalyst forming reaction, if desired, or may be any other suitable solvent. The catalyst exhibits no loss in activity due to addition to solvent.
Further, it has been found that although 15 solvent evaporation is most typically carried out at an elevated temperature, it is evaporation and not heating which ensures desirable product characteristics.
` Evaporation may be carried out, if desired, at reduced pressure and temperature.
.:
20 IV Cocatalyst The catalyst prepared as described above is ; active in the presence of an alkyl aluminum cocatalyst.
~ Trialkyl aluminum compounds such as triisobutyl alum-: inum ~TIBAL) are preferred cocatalysts. The alkyl ~ ~5 aluminum compound is fed to the polymerization reaction ; zone separately from the solid catalyst component.
The proportion of cocatalyst to solid cata-` lyst component may be varied, depending on the tran-;~ sition metal concentration in the solid catalyst com-; 30 ponent. In the case of TIBAL, excellent results have been obtained with as low as 4.6 mmole cocatalyst per gram of solid catalyst component.

.

i; .
, 1~7~S !

V Reaction Conditions The particle form reaction system is charac-terized by the introduction of monomer to an agitated catalyst-solvent slurry. The solvent, typically iso-butane, may be the solvent in which the catalyst pre-paration reaction is carried out. This type of reaction is best carried out in a closed vessel to facilitate pressure and ~emperature regulation. Pressure may be regulated by the addition of nitrogen and/or hydrogen 10 to the vessel. Addition of the latter is useful for regulation of the molecular weight distribution and average molecular weight of product polymer, as is well known in the art.
Particle form polymerization of ethylene with 15 the catalyst of this invention is best carried out at about 105C to 110C at a pressure of between 35 and 40 atmospheres. In gas phase polymerization, the temperature may range from less than about 85C to about 100C with a pressure as low as about 20 atmospheres.
20 Copolymers may be produced by either process by addition of propylene, butene-1, hexene-1 and similar alpha olefins to the reactor. Production of copolymers of relatively low density is preferably carried out at a relatively low temperature.

25 Example 1 A quantity of Davison Chemical Company Grade 952 silica was dried by heating at 600C for five hours ~`~ in a fluidized bed with nitrogen flow. A 2.2g portion ~`, of the dried silica was transferred to a flask and 30 stirred with a magnet bar without exposure to the at-mosphere. The flask was kept free of oxygen and water vapor by maintaining a flow of pure nitrogen through ` - , ~ ~ , , ~ ~ .
~ ~ .

~L~ 5 !

the flask to a mercury-filled bubbler.
A~ter one hour of nitrogen flow at room tem-perature, the flask was cooled in an ice bath to about 0C. During stirring of the silica, 13.8 ml of a heptane solution of an organomagnesium-aluminum com-plex was added. The complex had the formula [(C~Hg)2Mg]6 5[(C2H5)3Al], and the concentration was 0.51M in dibutylmagnesium and 0.078M in triethylaluminum.
The silica/complex solution mixture was stirred at 0C
under nitrogen for 30 minutes, and 0.75 ml (6.7 milli-moles) of titanium tetrachloride was added.
After an additional 30 minutes of mixing at 0C, the flask was placed in a silicone oil bath at 90C and dried under continuous nitrogen flow for 30 minutes. The result was a dark brown free-flowing powder.
A series of polymerization activity tests was conducted with the above-described catalyst in iso-butane. The pressure vessel was maintained at 221F
prior to and during each test, and under continuous nitrogen purge prior to each test. , In each test, an amount of the catalyst was introduced to the pressure vessel, followed by a volume of TIBAL solution. The entry port to the vessel was then closed, and the nitro-gen purge stopped. Isobutane was then added to the~essel, and a mi~er was activated.
After the addition-of the isobutane, ethylene ; and a desired partial pressure of hydrogen were intro-duced to the reactor. Total pressure was maintained at 550 psig with ethylene during the reaction Temperatuxe was maintained at 221F by means of a cooling jacket, ~ reflux condenser, and pressure regulator. In each ; case, small particles of polyethylene suitable for a .

.
, ~. ,, '; .

.~

:

particle form process were produced. The polymerization test results are shown in Table I.

TABLE I - Example 1 Reactivity Test Catalyst Cocatalyst ~ydrogen g/g of cat- ~lt No. Wt. (m~) Amount (mmole/g) (~sig) g/g of Ti/hr.alyst/hr. Index*
1 20.3 9.2 50 146,00010,540 0.~4 2 6.4 . 9.2 50 143,00010,300 ----

3 5.1 4.6 50 1~5,0009,020 ----0 4 30.9 9.2 100 114,0008,200 1.10 *ASTM D-1238 52T .

Example 2 Another catalyst was prepared following the , procedure of Example 1, except that the silica was dried at 850C. Polymerization tests were performed as des-cribed in Example 1 and particles of polyethylene were produced. Results of the tests are given in Table II~

Example 3 (Comparative Example) This example demonstrates that catalyst re-~ 20 activity is decreased if a substantially pure dialkyl '~ magnesium compound is substituted for the organomag-nesium-aluminum complex. The catalyst preparation and polymerization test procedures were the same as in Example 1, except that the silica was dried at 850C, ~' ~ 25 and butyl ethyl magnesium was substituted for the `~ organomagnesium-aluminum comple~. The butyl ethyl magnesium solution contained a small quantity of alum~
inum compound. However, the molar ratio of magnesium to aluminum was 66, as opposed to the Mg/Al ratio of 6.5 in Examples 1 and 2. Results of the polymerization tests are given in Table~II, .`' ~:
~: ;

, , ~3~ 5 1 Example 4 (Comparative Example) .
This example demonstrates that there is no advantage in treating silica with an excess of the organomagnesium and titanium compounds, and washing the composition after each such treatment.
2.0 grams of Da~ison Grade 952 silica were dried at 850aC as described in Examples 1 and 2 and was introduced to, and stirred for one hour in, a flask under a nitrogen purge at all times. 50 ml of pure dry heptane and 25 ml of butyl ethyl magnesium solution were added to the silica and the mixture was stirred for 30 minutes at room temperature.
After standing at rest for 5 minutes, the : liquid phase was withdrawn as completely as possible.
Unreacted butyl ethyl magnesium was found in the liquid phase. Therefore, an excess of butyl ethyl magnesium solution had been used~
25 ml heptane was then added to the remaining silica composition. After stirring for 15 minutes and settling for 5 minutes, the liquid phase was separated ~` as before. This procedure was repeated three additional times to remove substantially all excess butyl ethyl magnesium.
The washed silica mixture was then dried at room temperature under nitrogen purgel 6.0 ml of pure `~ titanium tetrachloride was added with mixing, and the flask was placed in a bath at a temperature of 134-136C
~ for one hour. The flask was then removed from the bath and the contents cooled to room temperature, followed by '~ 30 addition of 50 ml of pure dry heptane to the contents.
The mixture ~as stirred for 5 minutes and allowed to settle for 5 minutes.
The liquid phase was then separated and found .

.

"`~

3~S !

to contain titanium tetrachloride, demonstrating that an excess of titanium tetrachloride had been used in the reaction. Similar washing steps were repeated six times.
The remaining solid was of a reddish-violet color, and solvent was evaporated at 60C under nitrogen flow until the solid became a free flowing powder. A series of polymerization tests with this catalyst preparation were conducted as described in Example 1, and the results are given in Table II.

Example 5 ~ catalyst was prepared as described in Example 1 except that the catalyst preparation reactions were conducted at room temperature instead of 0C, and a series of polymerization tests conducted, the results of which are given in Table II. Polyethylene in the form of uniform-sized particles was produced.

, . .
. . .

113'ô~9 -13 _ TABLE II -- Examples 2-5 Cocatalyst Catalyst Amount Hydrogen Reactivity Test No.* Wt. (mg) (mmole/g) (psig) g/g of Ti/hr. (g/g cat./hr.
Test 5 (Example 2) 18.2 9.250 97,700 7033 Test 6 .'. (Example ~) 3.5 4~650 91,300 6571 Test 7 0 ~Example 3) 25.7 9,250 47,555 34~4 Test 8 ~Example 3) 16.8 9.250 68,000 4893 Test 9 ~Example 4) 20.0 9.250 ** 7000 Test 10 ~Example 4) 19.5 4~650 ** 5900 Test 11 ~Example 5) 15.2 9.250 120,600 8684 Test 12 ~E~ample 5) 21.6 4,650 114,000 8194 ~ *Tests Nos. 7-10 ~Examples 3 and 4) are results of comparative tests,;~ and Tests Nos. 5-6 and 11-12 are of the catalyst of the invention.
**Because of the use of excess TiCl and washing of solvent, the quantity of titanium in the catalys~ is unknown.

It can be seen that the use oE a pure alkyl magnesium compound (Example 3) results in a catalyst of lower reactivity than catalysts made according to the ` invention. If costly excesses of a pure alkyl magnesium ; compound and a titanium compound are used, activity is increased but remains at a level no higher than, and in most cases lower than, the activity of catalysts made according to the invention.
A sample of the polymer formed in Test 11 was melt blended with minor amount of an antioxidant mater-35 ial. An ~ (rheological dispersity) value was obtained `~
on this blend as described in the article by ~. Shida .

'.~
,.

~L37~

and L.V. Cancio in Polymer Engineering and Science, Vol.
11, page 124-128 (1971). The RD value was 2.6 and -the melt index was 0.17. A low RD value such as 2.6 indi-cates a narrow molecular weight distributionO Poly-ethylene resins made with the catalyst of the inventionnormally have RD values between about 2.5 to 5.0, and thus generally have narrow molecular weight distributiors.

Example 6( Comparative Example) A catalyst was prepared according to the pro-cedure of Example 1, but without heating of the silica prior to catalyst preparation. In an ethylene polymer-ization test at 221F, with 50 psig hydrogen partial pressure and 550 psig total pressure, reactivity was found to be 2445 g/g of solid catalyst/hr. The cocata-lyst was triisobutyl aluminum and 9.2 mmoles per gramof solid catalyst was used. The melt index of the par-ticle form polyethylene formed in the reaction was 0.18 ...
Exàmple 7 A catalyst was prepared following the pro-cedure of Example 1 except that the silica was pre-activated at 800C in a fluidized bed, the magnesium-aluminum complex had a slightly higher magnesium to aluminum ratio, and the concentration of the complex in heptane solution was different. The complex had the ( 4 9)2 g] 7.5~(C2H5)3Al] and the concentration in heptane was 5 weight percent. A 17.55 ml volume of this solution was reacted with 2.7g of preactivated ^ silica at room temperature for 30 minutes, followed by addition of 0.46 ml of titanium tetrachloride.
After an additional thirty minutes of mixing at room temperature, the sol~ent was evaporated at 90C

`

~3L~B7 -15~

under nitrogen flow. Portions of the resulting catalyst were used in ethylene polymerization tests at 215F with hydrogen additions of 50 and 100 psig, following the procedure of Example 1. 4.6 millimoles of TIBAL per gram of catalyst was used.
The calculated titanium content of this cata-lyst was 4.7 weight percent and the molar ratio of dibu-tyl magnesium to titanium tetrachloride was 1Ø
The results given below in Table III show the effect of hydrogen partial pressure in increasing the melt index.
TABLE I I I
Reactivity Catalyst Hydrogen g/g of cat- Melt Wt. (mg) tPsig) g/g of Ti/hr. alyst hr. Index 43.950 133,000 6469 0.16 ~;
69.9100 77,000 3615 0.45 Example 8 The catalyst of this example was made accord-ing to the procedure of Example 1. However, largeramounts of materials were used and longer times wer~
accordingly required for mixing and evaporation.
` An 89~9g quantity of silica previously dried `~ an~ preactivated at 600C was added to a dry flask under a nitrogen stream and stirred for 5 hours under nitxogen flow at room temperature. P~ 280 ml volume of ~` ~(C4Hg)2Mg]6 5[C2H4)3Al] in heptane was added to the flask from an addition funnel over a period of one hour. The concentration of the complex solution was 15.8 weight percent.
A 75 ml volume of heptane was then added to the reaction mixture which was then mixed for one hour.
' :' The mixture was maintained under nitrogen flow at room temperature for 16 hours, and 50 ml of heptane was added.
25 ml of titanium tetrachloride was then added o~er a 30 minute period, followed by mixing for two hours at room temperature. Solvent was then evaporated at 90C.
Five hours were required to complete the solvent eva-poration.
Polymerization tests were carried out as ~` described in Example 1 with 9.2 millimoles of TIBAL
cocatalyst per gram of solid catalyst. Results are set forth below in Table IV. Tests were run at various temperatures between 185 and 221F. The melt index increased with the reactor temperature demonstrating that product melt index may be controlled by regulation ` 15 of the polymerization temperature.
' TABLE IV
Reactor Hydrogen Temperature (,psig) MI HLMI HLMI/MI
185F 50 0.064 2.8i 45 ` 20215F 50 0.24 9.45 39 221F 50 0.70 31.4 45 ' Example 9 Two catalysts were made by the procedure of Example 5 with a calculated titanium content of 6.1 weight percent and a magnesium to titanium atomic ratio of about 1Ø In cne catalyst, the order of addition of the magnesium-aluminum complex and the titanium compound ,~ was the same as in Example 5~ In the second catalyst, titanium tetrachloride was added to the silica before the magnesium-aluminum complex. Polymerization tests with the catalyst show that the higher reactivity is obtained when the magnesium-aluminum complex is added .

.

~3~965i !

to the silica before the titanium compound is added.
Results are set forth below in Table V. 9.2 millimoles of TIBAL cocatalys~ per gram of solid catalyst was used.

TABLE V
5 Order of Catalyst Temp. Hydrogen Reactivity Addition Wt. (mg) (F) (psig) g/a cat./hr.
Magnesium- -Aluminum Complex Before TiC14 10 (invention) 16.9 217 50 6400 TiC14 Before Magnesium-Aluminum Complex (comparison) 18.2 221 50 1650 All parts and percentages herein are by weight.
Abbreviations used herein to identify chem~
ical ingredients and produced characteristics include:
HLMI - high load melt index MI - melt index (ASTM D-1238 52T) 2n RD ~ rheological dispersity TIBAL - triisobutyl aluminum

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. An olefin polymerization and copolymerization catalyst active in the presence of an alkyl aluminum cocatalyst prepared by mixing, in the presence of a solvent, reactive materials comprising dry particles of an inorganic oxide having active surface hydroxyl or oxide groups chosen from the group consisting of silica, alumina and silica-alumina and a complex of the general formula (MgR2)m(AlR?)n where R and R' are alkyl groups and m/n is between about 0.5 and 10, inclusive, to form a hydrocarbon insoluble first reaction pro-duct, and mixing said first reaction product in the presence of a solvent with a halide, oxyhalide or alkoxyhalide of a metal chosen from the group con-sisting of titanium, vanadium and zirconium to form a second reaction product, and evaporating said solvent from said second reaction product.

2. An olefin polymerization and copolymerization catalyst active in the presence oflan alkyl aluminum cocatalyst, prepared by the consecutive steps of:
(a) reacting dry particles of an inorganic oxide having active surface hydroxyl or oxide groups chosen from the group consisting essentially of silica alumina and silica-alumina in the presence of a hydrocarbon solvent with a complex of the general formula (MgR2)m(AlR?)n wherein R and R' are alkyl groups and m/n is between about 0.5 and 10, inclusive, to form a first reaction product insoluble in said solvent;
(b) reacting said first reaction product in the presence of a hydrocarbon solvent with a halogen-containing transition metal compound to form a second reaction product, said transition metal compound being selected from the group consisting essentially of Tr(OR'')aX4-a and TrOX3, wherein Tr is a transition metal selected from the group consisting essentially of titanium, vanadium, and zirconium, R'' is an alkyl group of less than about 20 carbon atoms, X is a halogen atom, and a is zero or an integer less than 4;
and (c) evaporating said solvent from said second reaction product.

3. The catalyst of claim 2 wherein between about 0.6 and 2.5 mmoles of said transition metal compound is present per gram of said inorganic oxide.

4. The catalyst of claim 3 wherein between about 0.25 and 1.0 mmoles of said transition metal compound is present per mmole of said active hydroxyl and oxide groups on said inorganic oxide.

5. The catalyst of claim 3 wherein said transition metal compound is added in equimolar ratio to the total magnesium and aluminum present in said first reaction product.

6. The catalyst of claim 2 wherein m/n is between about 2 and 10.

7. The catalyst of claim 2 wherein said inorganic oxide particles are preactivated by heating at between about 200°C and 900°C.

8. The catalyst of claim 7 wherein said inorganic oxide particles are preactivated by heating at about 600°C.

9. The catalyst of claim 2 wherein said transition metal compound is chosen from the group consisting essentially of TiCl4, Ti(OR'')Cl3, Ti(OR'')2Cl2, Ti(OR'')3Cl, VOCl3, VCl4 and ZrCl4.

10. The catalyst of claim 2 wherein R has between 2 and 12 carbon atoms.

11. The catalyst of claim 10 wherein R is butyl, R' is ethyl, and m/n is about 6.5.

12. The catalyst of claim 11 wherein said tran-sition metal compound is TiCl4.

13. The method of making polymers of one or more 1-olefins which comprises polymerizing said olefins under polymerizing conditions withlthe catalyst of claim 1 and an alkyl aluminum cocatalyst.

14. The method of making polymers of one or more 1-olefins which comprises polymerizing said olefins under polymerizing conditions with the catalyst of claim 2 and an alkyl aluminum cocatalyst.

15. The method of making polymers of one or more 1-olefins which comprises polymerizing said olefins under polymerizing conditions with the catalyst of claim 3 and an alkyl aluminum cocatalyst.

16. The method of making polymers of one or more 1-olefins which comprises polymerizing said olefins under polymerizing conditions with the catalyst of claim 4 and an alkyl aluminum cocatalyst.

17. The method of making polymers of one or more 1-olefins which comprises polymerizing said olefins under polymerizing conditions with the catalyst of claim 5 and an alkyl aluminum cocatalyst.

18. The method of making polymers of one or more 1-olefins which comprises polymerizing said olefins under polymerizing conditions with the catalyst of claim 6 and an alkyl aluminum cocatalyst.

19. The method of making polymers of one or more 1-olefins which comprises polymerizing said olefins under polymerizing conditions with the catalyst of claim 7 and an alkyl aluminum cocatalyst.

20. The method of making polymers of one or more 1-olefins which comprises polymerizing said olefins under polymerizing conditions with the catalyst of claim 8 and an alkyl aluminum cocatalyst.

21. The method of making polymers of one or more 1-olefins which comprises polymerizing said olefins under polymerizing conditions with the catalyst of claim 9 and an alkyl aluminum cocatalyst.

22. The method of making polymers of one or more 1-olefins which comprises polymerizing said olefins under polymerizing conditions with the catalyst of claim 10 and an alkyl aluminum cocatalyst.

23. The method of making polymers of one or more 1-olefins which comprises polymerizing said olefins under polymerizing conditions with the catalyst of claim 11 and an alkyl aluminum cocatalyst.

24. The method of making polymers of one or more 1-olefins which comprises polymerizing said olefins under polymerizing conditions with the catalyst of claim 12 and an alkyl aluminum cocatalyst.

25. The method of preparing an olefin polymerization and copolymerization catalyst active in the presence of an alkyl aluminum cocatalyst comprising the consec-utive steps of:
(a) reacting dry particles of an inorganic oxide having active surface hydroxyl or oxide groups chosen from the group consisting essentially of silica, alumina and silica-alumina in the presence of a hydro-carbon solvent with a complex of the general formula (MgR2)m(AlR?)n wherein R and R' are alkyl groups and m/n is between about 0.5 and 10, inclusive, to form a first reaction product insoluble in said solvent;
(b) reacting said first reaction product in the presence of a hydrocarbon solvent with a halogen-containing transition metal compound to form a second reaction product, said transition metal compound being selected from the group consisting essentially of Tr(OR'')aX4-a and TrOX3, wherein Tr is a transition metal selected from the group consisting essentially of titanium, vanadium and zirconium, R'' is an alkyl group of less than about 20 carbon atoms, X is a halogen atom, and a is zero or an integer less than 4; and (c) evaporating said solvent from said second reaction product.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein between about .6 and 2.5 mmoles of said transition metal compound is present per gram of said inorganic oxide.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein between about .25 and 1.0 mmoles of said transition metal compound is present per mmole of said active hydroxyl and oxide groups on said inorganic oxide.

28. The method of claim 26 wherein said transition metal compound is added in equimolar ratio to the total magnesium and aluminum present in said first reaction product.

29. The method of claim 25 wherein m/n is between about 2 and 10.

30. The method of claim 25 wherein said inorganic oxide particles are preactivated by heating at between about 200°C and 900°C.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein said inorganic oxide particles are preactivated by heating at about 600°C.

32. The method of claim 25 wherein said transition metal compound is chosen from the group consisting essentially of TiCl4, Ti(OR'')C13, Ti(OR'')2C12, Ti(OR'')3Cl, VOCl3, VCl4 and ZrCl4.

33. The method of claim 25 wherein R has between 2 and 12 carbon atoms.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein R is butyl, R' is ethyl, and m/n is about 6.5.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein said transition metal compound is TiCl4.