Technology Profile

Ethylene oxide production from ethylene

By Intratec Solutions Ethylene. Oxygen-based Air-based direct
Ethylene, air
oxygen direct oxidation oxidation
thylene oxide (also known 1

E
as EO, oxirane and epoxy­
Ethylene glycol Ethylene glycol
ethane) is the simplest cyclic
ether. Because it is highly re­ Ethylene,
Chlorohydrin
hypochlorous
active, ethylene oxide is one of the acid, lime
process

most versatile chemical intermedi­ □ Raw material □ Process ■ Mam product □ Byproducts
ates. It is converted into a wide range
FIGURE 2. Several production pathways exist for ethylene oxide
of products (for example, monoeth­
ylene glycol (MEG), surfactants and CO2, unreacted ethylene, oxygen and hypochlorous acid and the resulting
glycol ethers). methane). The bulk of the gaseous chlorohydrin is dehydrochlorinated
overhead stream is directly cycled with lime, yielding ethylene oxide
The process back to the EO reaction by a com­ and calcium chloride. Currently, EO
The process examined here (Figure pressor. The remainder of the gas­ is primarily produced via the more
1) is a typical direct oxidation pro­ eous overhead stream is treated for efficient direct oxidation of ethylene,
cess in which pure oxygen is used CO2 removal before being sent back which may be air-based or oxygen-
as the oxidizing agent. The process to the reactor. A liquid solution of EO based. Different pathways for EO
consists of three major sections: (1) dissolved in water is withdrawn from production are presented in Figure 2.
oxidation; (2) reagents recovery; and the absorber as a side stream.
(3) product separation. Products separation. The EO/water Economic performance
Oxidation. Initially, fresh ethylene, stream from the absorber is fed to the The total operating cost (raw materi­
methane make-up and oxygen are top of a stripper, where EO is separat­ als, utilities, fixed costs and deprecia­
mixed with recycle gas (recovered ed from water. The stripper bottoms tion costs) estimated to produce eth­
downstream). Methane is used as — a water/ethylene glycol mixture — ylene oxide was about $520 per ton
ballast gas to control flammable limits is routed to a column for recovering of ethylene oxide in the fourth quarter
in the process. The mixture is heated antifreeze-grade monoethylene glycol of 2015. The analysis was based on
by heat exchange with reactor efflu­ (MEG), which is sold as a byprod­ a plant constructed in the U.S. with
ent and fed to a multi-tubular catalytic uct. The overhead gaseous stream, capacity to produce 550,000 metric
reactor. There, ethylene oxide is se­ relatively concentrated in EO, is con­ tons per year of EO.
lectively produced over a silver cata­ densed and sent to a light-ends re­ This column is based on “Ethyl­
lyst supported on alumina. The heat moval unit. Crude EO withdrawn from ene Oxide Production from Ethylene
from this exothermic reaction gener­ the bottom of this unit is fed to a final - Cost Analysis,” a report published
ates steam on the reactor shell side, purification column for the removal of by Intratec. It can be found at: www.
and is used for heating purposes water and heavy impurities. High-pu­ intratec.us/analysis/ethylene-oxide-
throughout the process. Also, part of rity ethylene oxide (99.9 wt.%) is ob­ production-cost. ■
the ethylene is combusted, generat­ tained from the column overhead and Edited by Scott Jenkins
ing carbon dioxide and water. is condensed and sent to storage.
Editor's note: The content foe this column is supplied
Reagents recovery. The gaseous by Intratec Solutions LLC (Houston; www.intratec.us) and
stream obtained from the reactor Production pathways edited by Chemical Engineering. The analyses and models
presented are prepared on the basis of publicly avaiabte
outlet is counter-currently contacted Ethylene oxide production was ini­
and non confidential information. The content represents
with cold water in an absorber for tially based on the chlorohydrin pro­ the opinions of Intratec only. More information about the
the separation of light gases (mainly cess, where ethylene reacts with methodology for preparing analysis can be found, along with
terms of use, at www.intratec.us/che

Ethylene 1. Ethylene oxide reactor

2. Ethylene oxide absorber
■r - cw cw 3. CO absorber
Methane 4. C02 stripper
Ethylene oxide 5. Ethylene oxide stripper
CVi 6. Lights removal unit
Steam •fi ►<*> 7. Ethylene oxide column
8. MEG recovery column
9. Air separation unit
10. Cooling tower
11.Steam boiler
cw
CW Cooling water
* Wastewater ST Steam
.
J®
waste stream
cw*-Q ®
► MEG (antifreeze grade)
FIGURE 1. The diagram shows the production of ethylene oxide via direct oxidation of ethylene st*£] ®
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CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM DECEMBER 2019