This paper presents a multivariable nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) scheme for the regulation of a low-density polyethylene (LOPE) autoclave reactor. A detailed mechanistic process model developed previously was used to describe the dynamics of the LOPE reactor and the properties of the polymer product. Closed-loop simulations are used to demonstrate the disturbance rejection and tracking performance of the NMPC algorithm for control of reactor temperature and weight-averaged molecular weight (WAMW). In addition, the effect of parametric uncertainty in the kinetic rate constants of the LOPE reactor model on closed-loop performance is discussed. The unscented Kalman filtering (UKF) algorithm is employed to estimate plant states and disturbances. All control simulations were performed under conditions of noisy process measurements and structural plant-model mismatch. Where appropriate, the performance of the NMPC algorithm is contrasted with that of linear model predictive control (LMPC). It is shown that for this application the closed-loop performance of the UKF based NMPC scheme is very good and is superior to that of the linear predictive controller. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.