Prediction of the Melt Index in a High-Density Polyethylene Process

Abstract

In polyolefin processes a melt index (MI) is the most important control variable indicating the product quality. Because of the difficulty in the on-line measurement of the MI, a lot of MI estimation and correlation methods have been proposed. In this work a new dynamic MI estimation scheme is developed based on system identification techniques. The empirical MI estimation equation proposed in the present study is derived from the 1st-order dynamic models. Effectiveness of the present estimation scheme was illustrated by numerical simulations based on plant operation data including grade change operations in high density polyethylene (HDPE) processes. From the comparisons with other estimation methods it was found that the proposed estimation scheme showed better performance in MI predictions.