Editing Post-metallocene catalyst (section)

{{Short description|Catalyst for the industrial production of plastics}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2013}}
A '''post-metallocene catalyst''' is a kind of catalyst for the [[polymerization]] of [[olefin]]s, i.e., the industrial production of some of the most common plastics. "Post-metallocene" refers to a class of homogeneous catalysts that are not [[metallocene]]s. This area has attracted much attention because the market for polyethylene, polypropylene, and related [[copolymer]]s is large.  There is a corresponding intense market for new processes as indicated by the fact that, in the US alone, 50,000 patents were issued between 1991-2007 on polyethylene and polypropylene.<ref name=Chum/>

Many methods exist to polymerize alkenes, including the traditional routes using [[Philips catalyst]] and traditional heterogeneous [[Ziegler-Natta catalysts]], which still are used to produce the bulk of polyethylene.