Development of novel chromium oxide/metallocene hybrid catalysts for bimodal polyethylene

The investigation of a multicomponent catalyst in polyolefin field came up as an alternative for synthesizing bimodal polymers in only one step process under constant reaction conditions. In the present work, new bifunctional catalysts were prepared by combining chromium and metallocene species on the same solid and tested in ethylene polymerization in order to evaluate the possibility of producing bimodal polyethylene. The catalytic system methylaluminoxane (MAO)/(nBuCp)(2)ZrCl(2) was immobilized on activated chromium catalysts supported onto several inorganic carriers (silica, silica-alumina, aluminophosphate and mesostructured SBA-15-type materials). The reaction results showed a clear influence of the physicochemical properties of the support on the relative contribution of metallocene and chromium centers as well as on polymers molecular weight distribution. A bimodal polyethylene was obtained by supporting the MAO/metallocene system on a mesostructured chromium catalyst prepared by direct synthesis. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.