Cost

Ethylene prices in South-East Asia have risen by 3.1% and is now trading at US$1,150 per
tonne. total permanent investment for this plant is
$65MM
Market demand
Ethylene is a high demand product because it is an essential raw material in the production of
plastics, in particular low and high density polyethylenes and PVC. The major benefit of using
ethanol as the raw material for ethylene production instead of fossil
fuels is that ethanol is renewable;
Additionally, as environmental awareness becomes more socially prevalent, governments are
encouraging companies to move away from fossil fuels because they are non-renewable and
have high carbon emissions. Government support of this “greener,” renewable process may
further impact ethylene costs and also investment and operating costs for the plant.
Transportation of material
Transportation of the ethylene product is generally the responsibility of the buyers, who may use
barges docked near the plant. Ethylene can thus be piped directly from the plant onto the barges
at minimal cost. Because there is ethanol vendor near the plant location at Chemical Industries
(Malaya) Sdn. Bhd. in Perak, it may be
possible to pipe ethanol directly to the plant at minimal cost. If not it can be transported cheaply
by rail.
Environmental Awareness
One major advantage of this process over other process is that ethanol dehydration is
relatively “green” because it has very low carbon emissions. This in mind, it is reasonable to
expect government support, possibly in the form of subsidies.
Equipment used
1. Reaction vessels
2. Heat exchanger
3. Furnaces
4. Pumps
5. Flash distillation
6. Heat exchanger
 7. Valve
8. Distillation column
9. Heat exchanger
10. Reflux accumulator
11. Multistage compressor
12. Centrifugal pump
13. Valve
14. Adsorption tower
15. Multistage compressor
16. Valve
17. Cryogenic distiller
18. Heat exchanger
19. Valve
20. Reflux accumulator
21. Pump
Yield
The high pressure and temperature conditions at which
these reactors operate result in an overall ethanol conversion of 98% and an ethylene yield of
98%.

*More than 20 articles that can be found for the production of ethylene by dehydration using
ethanol.