Polyethylene quality assurance tests in sabic petrokemya

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Polyethylene quality assurance tests in sabic
petrokemya

• Presentation of Summer Training 062
• Al-Duailej, Yasser Khalid 223142

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Petrokemya in summary

• Petrochemical company, wholly owned by SABIC
• Established in May 1981, Jubail Ind. City
• Main Products
• Ethylene
• 1-Butene
• Propylene
• 1,3-Butadiene
• Benzene
• Polystyrene
• Vinyl Chloride Monomer (VCM)
• Polyvinyl Chloride, (suspension emulsion )
  S-PVC E-PVC
• Polyethylene, ( linear low density high density
  ) LLDPE HDPE
• Hydrogen ( by-product )

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Quality Assurance Department

• Mission to provide continuous analytical support
  to all Petrokemya plants
• Divided into
• Olefins area
• VCM area
• PVC area
• Polyethylene area

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Polyethylene

• Grades of PE
• Linear Low Density Polyethylene (LLDPE)
• 118N film application
• 118W film application
• 218W film application
• 318B film application
• High Density Polyethylene (HDPE)
• F00952 film application
• F00952EQ film application
• F01552 film application
• BM1052 blow molding application

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Polyethylene

• Additives of PE
• Primary Anti-Oxidant.
• Irg. 1076
• Irg. 1010
• Secondary Anti-Oxidant.
• Weston-399
• Neutralizer.
• Zn Stearate
• Ca Stearate
• Slip Agent
• Eurcamide
• Anti-Block Agent.
• China Clay

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Tests of Polyethylene

• Melt index (MI) an indicator of molecular
  weight, through a calculation of time of
  extrusion
• Melt flow ratio (MFR) an indicator of the
  molecular weight distribution, through a ratio of
  melt flow rate (MFR) to melt index (MI)
• Density an indicator of crystallinity of the
  polymer.

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Tests of Polyethylene

• Color a measure of what is physically acceptable
  to the customer
• Additives content a measure of the amount of
  stabilizers being added to the resin, using XRF
  FTIR
• Fan a measure of gels of imperfections in the
  product

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Tests of Polyethylene

• Ash determines the inorganic content of PE by
  burning the polymer portion
• Contamination determines the contamination
  caused by oxidized resins or external factors
  (dirt, metal, etc.)
• Pellet Uniformity checks if pellets are
  reasonably uniform in size to avoid extrusion
  problems at customer location
• (I didnt perform these three particular tests,
  but I witnessed them)

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Case studies

• Flow index(FI) and melt index(MI)

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Case studies

• Flow index(FI) and melt index(MI) of Pellets and
  Granule

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Case studies

• Observations
• Between LLDPE and HDPE, LLDPE shows more
  accuracy.
• Between pellets and granule, pellets show more
  accuracy.
• Reasons of errors are
• The device can be easily disturbed by external
  vibrations.
• The mixing of granule with IRG tolerates from
  time to time (inaccurate)
• The additives in pellets form enhance uniformity
  of particles thus accuracy.
• Air bubbles cause false readings and minimize
  accuracy.

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Case studies

• Trend Study ( Done for F00952 HDPE grade)

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• Thank you for listening
• Questions are welcomed