For most people, the word polyethylene is an unfamiliar word. What most people do not know is that he or she encounters something made of polyethylene nearly everyday. The term most commonly used and well-known for polyethylene is plastic. The prevalence of polyethylene can be noted by the variety of products made from polyethylene such as kitchen utility ware, containers for pharmaceutical drugs, wrapping materials for food and clothing, high frequency insulation, and pipes in irrigation sytsems just to name a few.

• This is for those of you who are interested in the technical aspects of polyethylene production.
  
  
• This is for those of you who would like a broad, non-technical overview of polyethylene production.
  
  

This story was prepared by

• Evelyn Bian
• Bruce Burklin
• Tae Hui Han
• Anh Thy Nguyen

as part of Chem. Eng. 475, Mathematical Modeling of Chemical Engineering Systems.