Spheripol is the world's leading technology for the production of polypropylene homopolymer plus random and heterophasic copolymers. Today 35% of worldwide polypropylene output is made using LyondellBasell's Spheripol technology.
Today's Spheripol process is the result of 50 years of continual improvement in polypropylene technology. However, to truly appreciate the unique capabilities of this technology, it is helpful to understand the evolution of the Polyproplyene industry and the breakthroughs that led to the discovery of the Spheripol process.
- 1960s & 1970s: Polypropylene processes were costly and difficult to operate.
With the discovery of second-generation high-yield catalysts the initial need for catalyst residue removal was overcome but the atactic content was still unacceptably high. - 1980s: Third generation, high-yield and high-selectivity catalysts eliminated the need for catalyst and atactic content removal. This further simplified the process and improved product quality.
- 1982: Spheripol technology appeared, incorporating breakthroughs in process design with the refinement of gas-phase and bulk polymerization reactors.
Today, the capabilities of the Spheripol process are further enhanced by the current catalyst generation, which has the ability to produce new families of reactor-based products with superior properties. They are constantly exploring new frontiers in the development of propylene polymers
HMC Polymers is applying this latest generation of LyondellBasell's catalysts in its plants.
Spheripol Process Key Characteristics
The unmatched success of Spheripol technology is a result of the focus on polyolefins and a commitment to continuous improvement.
The Spheripol process is a modular technology consisting out of 3 main units
- Catalyst feeding
- Polymerization
- Finishing section
Common to all polymerization units is the bulk polymerization section for homo and random co-polymers. This bulk polymerization employs tubular loop reactors filled with liquid propylene which is continuously fed the catalyst and hydrogen for molecular weight control. In the case of random co-polymers, a co-monomer such as ethylene or butylene is also added.
The resulting polymer is continuously discharged from the reactor whereas unreacted propylene is recovered and pumped back into the loop reactor.
The production of impact copolymers also requires a gas phase reactor which the polymer from the loop reactor is transferred to. In this reactor an elastomer formed by the introduction of ethylene is allowed to polymerize with the homopolymer matrix formed in the first reactor.
