The history of polyethylene dates back to 1898 when Von Pechmann obtained a polymer with a structure equivalent to polyethylene called polymethylene.
This synthesis was accidentally produced from diazomethane, obtaining a low molecular weight polymer. In 1900, Bamberger and Tschirner analyzed a similar product, finding that it had the formula (CH2)-n. Low-density polyethylene was accidentally obtained by Michaels' high-pressure studies of ethylene in Amsterdam.
Gibson took advantage of this discovery to produce polyethylene from a mixture of ethylene and benzaldehyde. In 1935, in England, chemists and engineers W. Faucett, G. Paton, W. Perrin and G. Williams, polymerized ethylene using high pressures and temperatures.
This discovery enabled Imperial Chemical Industries to manufacture polyethylene in 1938 by means of the first pilot plant, and commercial production began in 1939 in Northwich, Cheshire.
In 1953, Ziegler and his collaborators at the Max Planck Institute, based on the work initiated by the Italian Natta, studied the process of polymerization at low pressure.
The reaction with a catalytic complex of alkyl aluminum and titanium tetrachloride resulted in the manufacture of a polyethylene of higher density and melting temperature, as a consequence of its greater regularity. This polyethylene was called high density polyethylene (HDPE), due to its properties, or low pressure polyethylene, due to its method of production.
In 1955, the first factory of this material was inaugurated in Germany. Simultaneously, the Phillips Petroleum Co. in the USA developed an industrial process to obtain high-density, highly crystalline polyethylene using medium pressures and chromium oxide supported on silica as a catalyst. The first industrial plant was set up in Pasadena in 1957.
Source:
UNIVERSIDAD DE SAN CARLOS DE GUATEMALA FACULTY OF ENGINEERING SCHOOL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
ERNESTO ROCA GIRÓN