Continuous production of wax from ethylene and normally liquid organic co-reactant compound

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR PRODUCTION OF WAX FROM ETHYLENE AND A CO-REACTANT AS DEFINED BELOW WHICH COMPRISES MAINTAINING AN ETHYLENE AND CO-REACTANT VAPOR PHASE AND A SEPARATE MOLTEN WAX PHASE THEREBENEATH IN A POLYMERIZATION REACTOR; INTRODUCING INTO THE VAPOR PHASE, AT RATES MAINTAINING THEIR CONCENTRATIONS IN THE REACTION ZONE APPROXIMATELY CONSTANT, ETHYLENE, ETHYLENE POLYMERIZATION CATALYST, AND A NORMALLY LIQUID ORGANIC CO-REACTANT COMPOUND BOILING NOT ABOVE ABOUT 200* C. AT 760 MM. OF THE GROUP CONSISTING OF SATURATED COMPOUNDS OF CARBON, HYDROGEN AND OXYGEN, AND ARALKANE COMPOUNDS; MAINTAINING THE REACTOR AT A PRESSURE BETWEEN 100 AND 1000 ATMOSPHERES; AND BY MAINTAINING A STATE OF TURBULENCE IN THE VAPOR PHASE IN THE REACTOR AND CONTROLLING THE RATE OF CATALYST AND COREACTANT INPUT AND RATE OF REMOVAL OF HEAT FROM THE REACTOR, MAINTAINING AVERAGE TEMPERATURES THROUGHOUT THE VAPOR PHASE WITHIN THE RANGE 100* C. TO 300* C. AND MAINTAINING TEMPERATURES AT THE HOTTEST SPOTS IN THE VAPOR PHASE NOT MORE THAN ABOUT 10* C. HIGHER THAN THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURES IN THE VAPOR PHASE; MAINTAINING THE AFORESAID SEPARATE MOLTEN WAX PHASE IN THE REACTOR SUBSTANTIALLY QUIESCENT; AND WITHDRAWING WAX FROM THE WAX PHASE APPROXIMATELY AT THE RATE AT WHICH IT IS FORMED AND WITHDRAWING UNREACTED ETHYLENE IN WEIGHT RATIOS OF WAX:UNREACTED ETHYLENE OF AT LEAST 1:1.