Process for improving polymerization performance of brown solid titanium trichloride catalyst component

Claim 1

In a process for preparing a brown solid catalyst component comprising beta titanium trichloride and an amount, ranging up to about 10 mole %, of at least one organic electron pair donor compound selected from the group consisting of hydrocarbyl ethers, thioethers, thiols, ketones, esters, amides, amines, phosphines and stibines, said brown solid having a surface area of at least about 50 square meters per gram and a pore volume of at least about 0.10 cc per gram and produced by a process comprising: (a) reacting titanium tetrachloride and at least one organoaluminum component of the formula AlR n X 3-n wherein R is a hydrocarbyl radical, X is chlorine or bromine, and 1<n≦3 in amounts such that the molar ratio of said organoaluminum component to titanium tetrachloride ranges from about 0.5:1 to about 3:1 and at a temperature below about 0° C. in the presence of an inert liquid solvent for said titanium tetrachloride to form a brown solid; (b) increasing the temperature of the brown solid of (a) to less than about 100° C.; (c) contacting the brown solid of (b) with at least one electron pair donor compound selected from the group consisting of hydrocarbyl ethers, thioethers, thiols, ketones, esters, amides, amines, phosphines and stibines in the presence of an inert liquid solvent for said donor compound, the molar ratio of said donor compound to titanium in the brown solid of (b) ranging from about 0.5:1 to about 5:1, and heating at about ambient to about 80° C.; (d) treating the brown solid of (c) with a solution of at least one electron pair acceptor selected from the group consisting of titanium tetrahalides, titanium alkoxyhalides, aluminum bromide, germanium tetrachloride, silicon tetrachloride, and other Group IVA, IVB, and VB halides in an inert liquid at conditions of temperature, time, concentration of said acceptor in said liquid, and molar ratio of said acceptor to titanium contained in said brown solid of (c) which convert said brown solid of (c) into a brown solid having a surface area of above about 50 square meters per gram and a pore volume of above about 0.10 cc per gram; and (e) recovering the solid of (d); the improvement wherein (f) the brown solid from (e) is contacted in the presence of an inert liquid diluent and at a temperature ranging from about 0° to about 40° C. with at least a catalytically effective amount of at least one aluminum alkyl component of the formula AlR' m X 3-m wherein R' is an alkyl radical of 1 to about 20 carbon atoms, X is halogen, and m ranges from 1 to 3, and at least one alpha-olefin at a rate of about 0.05 to about 10 grams alpha-olefin per gram of said brown solid from (e) per hour for a time sufficient to form about 0.005 to about 100 grams solid polyalpha-olefin per gram of said brown solid from (e).