Process for producing hydrocarbon polymers

Claim 1

A POLYMERIZATION PROCESS COMPRISING THE STEPS OF INTRODUCING INTO A TUBULAR REACTION ZONE, MAINTAINED AT A PRESSURE OF 100-200 ATMOSPHERES, A TEMPERATURE OF 50-250*C. AND HAVING A CONTROLLED INCREASING TEMPERATURE PROFILE BETWEEN ITS INLET AND OUTLET WITH AN INLET TEMPERATURE IN THE RANGE 50-165*C. AND A TEMPERATURE RISE OF 20-120*C., AN A-OLEFIN CONTAINING 2-18 CARBON ATOMS AND AN INERT NONPOLYMERIZABLE DILUENT POLYMERIZING 15-80 WEIGHT PERCENT OF THE TOTAL A-OLEFIN BEING POLYMERIZED WITH A CATALYST FORMED BY ADMIXING AT A MOLAR RATIO OF 0.5-4.0, A REDUCING AGENT SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF ORGANOMETALLIC COMPOUNDS, METALS AND METAL HYDRIDES AND A COMPOUND OF A METAL SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF GROUPS IV-B AND V-B OF THE PERIODIC CHART OF ELEMENTS, CONTINUOUSLY PASSING THE REACTION MIXTURE FROM SAID TUBULAR REACTOR, AFTER AN AVERAGE HOLDUP TIME OF 0.5-100 SECONDS, DIRECTLY INTO A CONSTANT ENVIRONMENT AUTOCLAVE REACTOR MAINTAINED AT A PRESSURE OF 100-200 ATMOSPHERES AND A TEMPERATURE OF 150-350*C., CONTINUOUSLY REMOVING THE REACTION MIXTURE, CONTAINING LESS THAN 20 WEIGHT PERCENT POLYMER IN DILUENT, FROM SAID AUTOCLAVE REACTOR AFTER AN AVERAGE HOLDUP TIME OF AT LEAST 0.5 MINUTE AND SEPARATING THE POLYMER FROM THE REACTION MIXTURE.