Polymerization of olefin

A solid catalytic component for polymerization of an olefin is prepared by reacting a vanadium trichloride ether complex with aluminum halide.

What is claimed is:

1. In a process for polymerizing ethylene alone or a mixture containing ethylene and a different .alpha.-olefin to form copolymers containing less than 10 wt.% of the .alpha.-olefin in the presence of a catalyst system comprising an organoaluminum compound and a solid catalytic component, the improvement which comprises preparing said solid catalytic component by the process which comprises:

(a) dissolving a vanadium trichloride-ether complex in a solvent to form a solution;

(b) adding to said solution a quantity of an aluminum halide sufficient to yield a molar ratio of aluminum halide to the ether in the vanadium trichloride-ether complex of 0.1 to 10, whereby said aluminum halide reacts with said vanadium trichloride-ether complex to form a precipitate consisting essentially of said solid catalytic component; and

(c) recovering said solid catalytic component.

2. The process of claim 1 wherein the solid catalytic component is washed with a solvent before combining it with the organoaluminum compound.

3. A process according to claim 1, wherein said solvent is a halogenated hydrocarbon.

4. A process according to claim 1, wherein said vanadium trichloride ether complex is vanadium trichloride tetrahydropyran complex.

5. A process according to claim 1, wherein said vanadium trichloride ether complex is vanadium trichloride tetrahydrofuran complex.