Increase Production and Efficiency Without Compromising Safety

Process gas analysis is integral to the control and optimization of the polyethylene and polypropylene manufacturing process. The composition of the reactor gas streams provides the plant control system with an indication of production efficiency, and the information necessary to make adjustments to process variables. Due to the need for polymer manufacturers to vary product formulations, the speed of inlet gas analysis becomes particularly important during process transitions. In this application note, to attain a real-time measurement, polyethylene reactor gas was monitored using a MAX300-IG, process control mass spectrometer. This data was compared to a simultaneous measurement performed using the traditional process gas chromatography (GC) approach.