Running head: ETHYLENE PRODUCTION 1

Ethylene Production

Name

Course

Professor

Date
ETHYLENE PRODUCTION 2

Contents

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 3

Production of Ethylene ................................................................................................................... 3

Objectives of the process ................................................................................................................ 3

Flow diagram .................................................................................................................................. 4

Operating conditions ....................................................................................................................... 5

Feeds and final product ................................................................................................................... 6

Different technologies ..................................................................................................................... 6

Main reactions and main products .................................................................................................. 7

Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 7

References ....................................................................................................................................... 9
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Introduction

Ethylene is one of the most used hydrocarbons in the chemical industry. It is one of the

simplest hydrocarbons due to its structure that entails double carbon bonds (C2H4). Ethylene in

its pure form is a gas that is characterized by a “musky and sweet” smell (Bidsorkhi et al. 2014).

Its importance in the chemical industry makes it one of the most produced organic compounds in

the world. The statistics indicate that the Asia pacific is the leading producer of the gas

producing over 50 million tons annually while the Middle East is the fourth largest producer

producing over 20 million tons annually (Haro, Ollero & Trippe, 2013). This paper expounds

further on how the ethylene gas is produced.

Production of Ethylene

The process of producing ethylene gas or otherwise known as ethene (IUPAC name)

comprises a series of chain reactions that involve cracking (steam and catalytic) of a variety of

hydrocarbons. The productions however vary with places and this is largely attributed with the

presence of the feedstock that is essential in its production. Countries such as Asia and Europe

produce ethylene by cracking gasoline and naphtha while other countries such as the United

Sates produce the gas by cracking propane and ethane (Haro, Ollero & Trippe, 2013). The

process involved in the different countries both produce ethylene gas, the difference only arise in

the structural design of the plants. For instance, cracking ethane and propane to give ethylene

like in the instance of the United Sates makes the plant cheaper and easy to operate (Ghanta,

Fahey & Subramaniam, 2014).

Objectives of the process

The main aim of the production plant is to break down the hydrocarbons in the feedstock

to produce the required ethylene gas. The gas has a wide application in the field of chemistry
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including its important role in the production of polymers such as the chloroethene, ethyl

benzene and poly (ethene) it is also important for the production of other chemical substances

such as ethanol and epoxy ethane (Ghanta, Fahey & Subramaniam, 2014).

The process also has been highly utilized due to its,

 High demand of the ethylene gas which thus makes it to be a highly sought after chemical

product (Demirors, et al. 2016). This has called for the industrial production of the gas.

 The relative advantage that it has such as ease of production operations and its cost

effectiveness.

 The production also has environmental concerns in that it does not produce other

hazardous chemicals in to the environment (Ghanta, Fahey & Subramaniam, 2014).

Flow diagram

Most of the feedstock used to produce the gas is natural oil and gas. The process involves

mostly the cracking of these natural oil or gases, cracking can be either through catalytic process

or by steam process. Catalytic process from the name speeds up the process by utilizing on the

reaction of temperatures (Ghanta, Fahey & Subramaniam, 2014). Catalytic process lowers the

temperature that is required to crack the hydrocarbons in the natural oil. To achieve the lowest

temperature for cracking, the process uses a fluidized catalytic cracking technique which is used

to pass over the feedstock. The temperature of the products, the catalyst and the time taken to

pass the unit is used to determine the proportion of the products. The proportion is then separated

to get back the catalyst and the ethylene gas (Han, Geng & Liu, 2014).

Steam cracking is also a process similar to catalytic cracking only that in this process,

the feedstock is preheated using steam vapor to a temperature of 1050 to 1150. They are then
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vaporized in a reactor that is tubular in shape. After vaporization, the products are converted to

relatively low molecules to separate the gas and other by-products such and the propylene and

benzene gas (van Goethem et al. 2013). In a nut-shell, steam cracking is a pyrolysis process since

it first of all involves the cracking or breaking down of petroleum components through the use of

its steam (Chen, Ozaki & Czarnecki, 2013).

Operating conditions

Ghanta, Fahey and Subramaniam, (2014) posit that there are two process of producing

ethylene gas, the steam cracking and catalytic cracking. Both processes have different operating

conditions (Sadrameli, 2016). In steam cracking, conditions that are imminent for the production

include the reactants which are in this case the feedstock, the reactants are passed through a

temperatures ranging from 1050 to 1150K and a tubular reactor that is responsible for converting

the vaporized products in to their respective molecular masses for ease of extracting the ethylene

gas (Haro, Ollero & Trippe, 2013). On the other hand, the conditions that are prerequisite for

catalytic cracking include a zeolite to liquidate the catalyzed, a reactor that is responsible for

heating the feedstock in to about 700 to 800K and a furnace that will determine the product

proportions by measuring their temperatures, time taken to pass the furnace as well as the

catalyst itself (Epelde, Aguayo, Olazar, Bilbao & Gayubo, 2014).

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Feeds and final product

Feedstock

1. Crude oil

2. gasoline

3. naphtha

4. propane

5. ethane

The different feedstock varies with the countries producing them. This is largely attributed to

the rate of abundance of the feedstock within the country. However, the use of propane and

ethane to produce the gas is deemed most suitable since it is a less costly process and at the same

time it does not require a much sophisticated structural plan of the plant (Han, Geng & Liu,

2014).

Different technologies

As stipulated, ethylene is majorly produced through the process of cracking. The various

technologies that exist as reiterated include the use of steam cracking and catalytic cracking.

Catalytic cracking however is a more advanced form of technology used in the production of the

gas (Ghanta, Fahey & Subramaniam, 2014). For instance, the recent advancement on the use of

advanced catalytic olefins (ACO). The advantage of the process is on efficiency, it is purported

that the advancement is able to reduce the production energy requirement by 20%, lower cost of

production by 30% and most importantly its gas emission rate which is far less as compared to

other processes of producing the gas (Han, Geng & Liu, 2014).
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Main reactions and main products

Ethylene = cracking (steam or catalytic) + hydrogenation

Cracking is simply the breaking down of hydrocarbons in the feedstock while hydrogenation is

the inclusion of hydrogen to a double bond carbon (Han, Geng & Liu, 2014).

Source: (Mu, Shi, Wang & Zhu, 2016).

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is evident that ethylene gas is one of the highly sought after products in

the chemical industry, this is evident from the highlighted uses of the gas as well as the huge

amount that is produced annually by the different countries. Companies developing the gas

therefore have a huge task of doing so with the aim of utilizing the available raw material

(feedstock) and ensuring efficiency in their production capabilities. This has seen the

introduction of various processes of producing the gas. As highlighted, there are two core
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processes of producing the gas, steam cracking and catalytic cracking of the reactant gases. All

of which have significance in terms of the efficiency and the availability of reactant gases.
ETHYLENE PRODUCTION 9

References

Bidsorkhi, H. C., Soheilmoghaddam, M., Pour, R. H., Adelnia, H., & Mohamad, Z. (2014).

Mechanical, thermal and flammability properties of ethylene-vinyl acetate

(EVA)/sepiolite nanocomposites. Polymer Testing, 37, 117-122.

Chen, Y., Ozaki, Y., & Czarnecki, M. A. (2013). Molecular structure and hydrogen bonding in

pure liquid ethylene glycol and ethylene glycol–water mixtures studied using NIR

spectroscopy. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 15(42), 18694-18701.

Demirors, M., Figueroa, R., Klosin, J., Thomas, P. J., Desjardins, S., Kapur, M., & Fontaine, P.

P. (2016). U.S. Patent No. 9,527,940. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark

Office.

Epelde, E., Aguayo, A. T., Olazar, M., Bilbao, J., & Gayubo, A. G. (2014). Modifications in the

HZSM-5 zeolite for the selective transformation of ethylene into propylene. Applied

Catalysis A: General, 479, 17-25.

Ghanta, M., Fahey, D., & Subramaniam, B. (2014). Environmental impacts of ethylene

production from diverse feedstocks and energy sources. Applied Petrochemical

Research, 4(2), 167-179.

Han, Y., Geng, Z., & Liu, Q. (2014). Energy efficiency evaluation based on data envelopment

analysis integrated analytic hierarchy process in ethylene production. Chinese Journal of

Chemical Engineering, 22(11-12), 1279-1284.

Haro, P., Ollero, P., & Trippe, F. (2013). Technoeconomic assessment of potential processes for

bio-ethylene production. Fuel processing technology, 114, 35-48.

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Mu, L., Shi, Y., Wang, H., & Zhu, J. (2016). Lignin in ethylene glycol and poly (ethylene

glycol): Fortified lubricants with internal hydrogen bonding. ACS Sustainable Chemistry

& Engineering, 4(3), 1840-1849.

Sadrameli, S. M. (2016). Thermal/catalytic cracking of liquid hydrocarbons for the production of

olefins: A state-of-the-art review II: Catalytic cracking review. Fuel, 173, 285-297.

van Goethem, M. W., Barendregt, S., Grievink, J., Verheijen, P. J., Dente, M., & Ranzi, E.

(2013). A kinetic modelling study of ethane cracking for optimal ethylene

yield. Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 91(6), 1106-1110.