The influence of the preparing conditions of SiO2 supported Cp2ZrCl2 catalyst on ethylene polymerization

In this work, ethylene was polymerized by using Cp2ZrCl2 supported on silica pretreated with methylaluminoxane (MAO) as the catalyst system. The influence of the conditions for the preparation of the heterogeneous catalyst, such as temperature, washing method of the catalytic solid, MAO and metallocene concentration in the support treatment, time of MAO, and metallocene immobilization on the support, type of alkylaluminum used in the support pretreatment, and calcination temperature of the support were investigated. Aluminum and zirconium content fixed on the silica surface were determined by inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopy. Polymer characteristics were determined by gel permeation chromatography and differential scanning calorimetry. According to the results, the activity of some supported catalysts were far higher than with the homogeneous system. Moreover, polyethylene with very high molecular weights were also obtained and with molecular weight distribution larger than those produced with the homogeneous precursor. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 86: 2054–2061, 2002