Patent ID: 8088334

Claim:
An apparatus for making a polymeric material comprising: (a) a fluidized bed reactor for making a polymeric material, which comprises a feed distributor located near the bottom of the reactor and an enlarged disengaging zone located near the top of the reactor; (b) a recycle loop, which connects the enlarged disengaging zone to a part of the reactor below the feed distributor, for passing unreacted gases leaving the enlarged disengaging zone to the part of the reactor below the feed distributor; and (c) a spitwad catcher for collecting spitwads in or removing spitwads from the recycle loop, wherein the spitwad catcher is located in a portion of the recycle loop that has no intervening piece of process equipment before entering the fluidized bed reactor, and wherein a spitwad is a solid that would plug at least one aperature of the feed distributor if not collected or removed.