Patent ID: 7947797

Claim:
A process for operating a gas-phase reactor at or near maximum production rates, under condensed mode reactor conditions, comprising: a) feeding monomers and at least one catalyst to the gas-phase reactor, to make polymer particles; b) feeding at least one induced condensing agent (ICA) to the gas-phase reactor; c) measuring an acoustic emission signal or signals the polymer particles in the gas-phase reactor using at least one acoustic emission sensor; d) processing the signal or signals by arithmetic averaging the acoustic emission signal or signals sampled over a time window in the range of 0.001-1000 seconds, where the sampling frequency ranges from 0.01-1000 samples per second; and e) controlling the reactor at or near maximum production rate for a given polymer, by the measuring the acoustic emission signal or signals, such that when the acoustic emission signal or signals deviate from the arithmetic average acoustic emission signal or signals of a steady state reactor producing the same given polymer, by more than three negative standard deviation, the controlling comprises a corrective action comprising: adjusting one of ICA level, comonomer level, reactor temperature or combinations thereof.