Studying the Regularities of Ethylene Trimerization to Hexene-1 on a Chromium–Pyrrole Catalytic System

This paper reports the results of ethylene trimerization to hexene-1 on a chromium–pyrrole catalytic system in semiperiodic and continuous regimes under varied reaction conditions. The effect of the catalyst concentration, temperature, and ethylene pressure on the kinetic profile of reaction rate–time curves is demonstrated. A generalized scheme is proposed for the process of ethylene trimerization to hexene-1. At the same time, it is shown that the kinetic data on the formation of reaction products are insufficient for the trimerization process to be completely described within the framework of a universal kinetic model due to a multistage character of this process, the experimental establishment of dependence for each stage (formation of catalytic intermediates, initiation, the occurrence of side reactions with participation of catalytic system components, tri-, oligo-, and polymerization reactions) and, thereby, due to variability in the catalytic behavior of the system.