ABSTRACT
One of the most disruptive discoveries of twentieth century has been metal-catalyzed polymerization of ethylene to polyethylene by Prof. Karl Ziegler. Any fundamental scientific discovery that would like to meet the societal needs has to go through an industrial process. Therefore, Prof. Ziegler first patented his invention. Although the initial developments were dominated by the product characteristics, later investigations were focused on understanding the mechanism. Over the years, various proposals were presented to pin down the mode of action of Ziegler-Natta (ZN) catalyst in olefin polymerization. Tremendous progress has been made in ZN polymerization over the years and polyethylene, polypropylene, and various copolymers are being manufactured worldwide for various applications. A scientific discovery cannot deliver a societal impact unless it is scaled up to produce sufficient quantities to serve the society. Large-volume specialties are large to medium volume products that are sold based on technology, performance, and meeting end-use requirements as the major criteria.
