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Saelee T, Sitthijun P, Ngamlaor C, Kerdprasit N, Rittiruam M, Khajondetchairit P, Da Silva JLF, Buasuk N, Praserthdam P, Praserthdam S. Experimental and first-principles investigation on how support morphology determines the performance of the Ziegler-Natta catalyst during ethylene polymerization. Sci Rep 2024; 14:17835. [PMID: 39090151 PMCID: PMC11294544 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-68289-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2024] [Accepted: 07/22/2024] [Indexed: 08/04/2024] Open
Abstract
One class of the Ziegler-Natta catalysts (ZNC) - the TiCl4/MgCl2 having triethyl aluminum (AlEt3), has been widely utilized during ethylene polymerization. Although the Ti species plays the role of a major active site, an increase of Ti species does not always improve the activity of ZNC. Herein, investigations of experiments and density functional theory (DFT) elucidate this inverse effect of the increased amount of TiCl4 deposition in ZNC because of the pretreatment process. However, the activity of ZNC on pretreated MgCl2 dropped to 60% of the unpretreated one. The DFT demonstrates that the pretreatment strengthened the interaction between TiCl4 and ZNC, especially on the (104) surface, forming the TiCl4-TiCl4 cluster. The existence of this TiCl4-TiCl4 cluster found on the ZNC (104) surface weakens the adsorption of the first AlEt3 molecule and obstructs further alkylation process, making another Ti site of the alkylated TiCl4-TiCl4 cluster inactive. However, the difficult formation of the TiCl4-TiCl4 cluster found on the ZNC (110) is an important key point that enables the activation of all adsorbed TiCl4 on this surface by facilitating the alkylation process. Moreover, the existence of the MgCl2 (110) surface prevents the formation of the TiCl4-TiCl4 cluster significantly. Hence, it is suggested that the existence of the (110) plane on ZNC plays a key role in controlling the performance of the ZNC, especially the stability via the prevention of deactivation caused by the clustering of TiCl4.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tinnakorn Saelee
- High-Performance Computing Unit (CECC-HCU), Center of Excellence on Catalysis and Catalytic Reaction Engineering (CECC), Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
- Center of Excellence on Catalysis and Catalytic Reaction Engineering (CECC), Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
- Saelee Research Group, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
| | - Pichayapong Sitthijun
- Center of Excellence on Catalysis and Catalytic Reaction Engineering (CECC), Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
| | - Chinanang Ngamlaor
- High-Performance Computing Unit (CECC-HCU), Center of Excellence on Catalysis and Catalytic Reaction Engineering (CECC), Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
- Center of Excellence on Catalysis and Catalytic Reaction Engineering (CECC), Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
| | - Nuttapat Kerdprasit
- High-Performance Computing Unit (CECC-HCU), Center of Excellence on Catalysis and Catalytic Reaction Engineering (CECC), Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
- Center of Excellence on Catalysis and Catalytic Reaction Engineering (CECC), Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
| | - Meena Rittiruam
- High-Performance Computing Unit (CECC-HCU), Center of Excellence on Catalysis and Catalytic Reaction Engineering (CECC), Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
- Center of Excellence on Catalysis and Catalytic Reaction Engineering (CECC), Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
- Rittiruam Research Group, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
| | - Patcharaporn Khajondetchairit
- High-Performance Computing Unit (CECC-HCU), Center of Excellence on Catalysis and Catalytic Reaction Engineering (CECC), Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
- Center of Excellence on Catalysis and Catalytic Reaction Engineering (CECC), Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
- Khajondetchairit Research Group, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
| | - Juarez L F Da Silva
- São Carlos Institute of Chemistry, University of São Paulo, P.O. Box 780, São Carlos, SP, 13560-970, Brazil
| | - Nichakorn Buasuk
- High-Performance Computing Unit (CECC-HCU), Center of Excellence on Catalysis and Catalytic Reaction Engineering (CECC), Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
- Center of Excellence on Catalysis and Catalytic Reaction Engineering (CECC), Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
| | - Piyasan Praserthdam
- Center of Excellence on Catalysis and Catalytic Reaction Engineering (CECC), Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
| | - Supareak Praserthdam
- High-Performance Computing Unit (CECC-HCU), Center of Excellence on Catalysis and Catalytic Reaction Engineering (CECC), Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand.
- Center of Excellence on Catalysis and Catalytic Reaction Engineering (CECC), Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand.
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