Patent ID: 8618227

Claim:
A process for improving the devolatilization of polymer slurry produced in a polymerization loop reactor comprising: introducing ethylene monomer, one or more optional olefin co-monomers and a diluent into a loop polymerization reactor; introducing at least one polymerization catalyst into the reactor; polymerizing the ethylene monomer and the optional co-monomer to produce a polymer slurry comprising liquid diluent and solid ethylene polymer particles; periodically withdrawing the polymer slurry from the polymerization reactor; and passing withdrawn polymer slurry through a heated flash line into a flash tank, wherein a temperature of an interior surface of the flash line is adjusted to a temperature which is equal to or higher than a softening temperature of the polymer particles passing therethrough and wherein the temperature of the interior surface is higher in a first half of the length of the flash line than in a remaining length of the flash line.