Polymerization of olefins with slurried catalyst

Claim 1

A CONTINUOUS CATALYTIC PROCESS FOR POLYMERIZING OLEFINS WHICH COMPRISES THE STEPS OF FORMING A PLURALITY OF REACTION ZONES FLUIDLY CONNECTED IN SERIES, EACH OF WHICH INCLUDES AN AGITATED SUSPENSION OF FINELY DIVIDED SOLID PHOSPHORIC ACID CATALYST IN DENSE FLUID HYDROCARBON, AND EACH OF WHICH IS MAINTAINED AT A POLMERIZATION TEMPERATURE AND A PRESSURE ABOVE ABOUT 450 P.S.I.G., CONTINUOUSLY INTRODUCING AN OLEFIN FEED INTO THE FIRST OF SAID PLURALITY OF ZONES, CONTINUOUSLY WITHDRAWING A SUBSTANTIALLY SOLIDFREE FLUID EFFLUENT COMPRISING UNREACTED OLEFIN AND POLYMER FROM THE FIRST OF ANY TWO ADJACENT ZONES AND INTRODUCING SAID EFFLUENT INTO SAID SUSPENSION IN THE SECOND OF SAID ADJACENT ZONES, AND WITHDRAWING SUBSTANTIALLY SOLID-FREE PRODUCT EFFLUENT COMPRISING POLYMER FROM THE LAST OF SAID PLURALITY OF ZONES, SAID OLEFIN FEED BEING CHARGED TO SAID FIRST ZONE AT A RATE SUCH THAT THE OVER-ALL SPACE VELOCITY IN SAID ZONES IS IN THE RANGE OF 0.1 TO 2.5 G./H./P., SAID PROCESS BEING FURTHER CHARACTERIZED BY INTRODUCTION INTO SAID FIRST ZONE OF ABOUT 0.1 TO 0.4 GALLON OF WATER PER THOUSAND GALLONS OF FEED DURING THE INITIAL TIME PERIOD OF THE REACTION AFTER WHICH THE AMOUNT OF WATER INTRODUCED PER THOUSAND GALLONS OF FEED.