Patent ID: 7582708

Claim:
A method of bulk polymerization of at least one alpha olefin monomer to form bulk polyalphaolefin polymer, the method comprising the steps of: combining at least one alpha olefin monomer having a mass and at least one catalyst having a mass in a reservoir cavity of a reservoir to form a polymerization reaction mixture having a combined mass within the reservoir cavity, the reservoir cavity being formed by at least three side walls and bottom wall; inserting at least one heat exchanger plate having an exchanger cavity in fluid communication with a coolant source into the reservoir cavity thereafter contacting the combined mass of the polymerization reaction mixture with the at least one heat exchanger plate disposed within the reservoir cavity; polymerizing the mass of the at least one alpha olefin monomer within the reservoir cavity with the at least one heat exchanger plate inserted into the reservoir cavity for achieving a conversion level of at least a majority of the mass of the alpha olefin monomer based on the combined mass of the polymerization reaction mixture to form a bulk polyalphaolefin polymer; maintaining the polymerization reaction mixture within the reservoir cavity for removing sufficient heat from the combined mass of the polymerization reaction mixture such that the center most region of the combined mass of the polymerization reaction mixture is sufficiently cooled to form a bulk polyalphaolefin; and removing the least one heat exchanger plate from the reservoir cavity such that the at least one heat exchanger plate and the reservoir cavity comprising a the side walls and the bottom wall can be reused and, thus, voluminous amounts of bulk polyalphaolefin polymer are created.