Petrochemical processing plants continue to seek better ways to produce more products and increase efficiency without compromising safety. For Polyethylene manufacturing plants, finding methods to meet these goals can make all the difference in production yields and profitability. Polyethylene products are produced using batch processing technology and are one of the most expensive hydrocarbon-based products to produce.

Polyethylene producers depend on Extrel MAX300-RTG Industrial Process Mass Spectrometers for various analyses and control. The reactor feed and product gases are analyzed during production using the MAX300-RTG to ensure the product is within manufacturing specifications. Using this analysis information in the control scheme helps increase yields and guarantee the quality of the product.

Benefits

• Increased product yields
• Fast and accurate online analysis allows the operator to control the process very close to its optimum set point, improving product yield
• Ability to reduce the amount of time between batches by identifying the exact moment the next batch process can begin, eliminating the necessity of relying only on elapsed time, or temperature and pressure indicators
• Improved product quality
• Tightly monitors the reactor inlet and outlet composition
• Measures branching compounds to determine the length of the polymer molecule
• Can help avoid off-spec products
• Better process control
• Control algorithms do not need to adjust setpoints away from the optimum levels to ensure safety as they would with slower technologies such as gas chromatography
• Less process variation can help avoid equipment plugging

The typical analysis time is less than 10 seconds per stream. The MAX300-RTG Mass Spectrometer utilizes next generation designs for the inlet, ionizer, and filament assembly. This extends the life of the filaments, increases the time between service and decreases maintenance downtime.