6/28/2020 Steam cracking - Wikipedia

Steam cracking
Steam cracking is a petrochemical process in which saturated hydrocarbons are broken down into
smaller, often unsaturated, hydrocarbons. It is the principal industrial method for producing the
lighter alkenes (or commonly olefins), including ethene (or ethylene) and propene (or propylene).
Steam cracker units are facilities in which a feedstock such as naphtha, liquefied petroleum gas
(LPG), ethane, propane or butane is thermally cracked through the use of steam in steam cracking
furnaces to produce lighter hydrocarbons. The propane dehydrogenation process may be
accomplished through different commercial technologies. The main differences between each of them
concerns the catalyst employed, design of the reactor and strategies to achieve higher conversion
rates.[1]

Olefins are useful precursors to myriad products. Steam cracking is the core technology that supports
the largest scale chemical processes, i.e. ethylene and propylene.[2]

Contents
Process Description
General
Process details
Steam cracking furnaces licensors
See also
Related Articles
Notes and references

Process Description

General

In steam cracking, a gaseous or liquid hydrocarbon feed like naphtha, LPG, or ethane is diluted with
steam and briefly heated in a furnace in the absence of oxygen.[3] Typically, the reaction temperature
is very high, at around 850 °C. The reaction occurs rapidly: the residence time is on the order of
milliseconds. Flow rates approach the speed of sound. After the cracking temperature has been
reached, the gas is quickly quenched to stop the reaction in a transfer line heat exchanger or inside a
quenching header using quench oil.[2]

The products produced in the reaction depend on the composition of the feed, the hydrocarbon-to-
steam ratio, and on the cracking temperature and furnace residence time. Light hydrocarbon feeds
such as ethane, LPGs, or light naphtha give mainly lighter alkenes, including ethylene, propylene, and
butadiene. Heavier hydrocarbon (full range and heavy naphthas as well as other refinery products)
feeds give some of these same products, but also those rich in aromatic hydrocarbons and
hydrocarbons suitable for inclusion in gasoline or fuel oil.[citation needed]

A higher cracking temperature (also referred to as severity) favors the production of ethene and
benzene, whereas lower severity produces higher amounts of propene, C4-hydrocarbons and liquid
products. The process also results in the slow deposition of coke, a form of carbon, on the reactor

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_cracking#:~:text=Steam cracking is a petrochemical,and propene (or propylene). 1/3

6/28/2020 Steam cracking - Wikipedia

walls. This degrades the efficiency of the reactor, so reaction conditions are designed to minimize
this. Nonetheless, a steam cracking furnace can usually only run for a few months at a time between
de-cokings. Decokes require the furnace to be isolated from the process and then a flow of steam or a
steam/air mixture is passed through the furnace coils. This converts the hard solid carbon layer to
carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Once this reaction is complete, the furnace can be returned to
service.[citation needed]

Process details

The areas of an ethylene plant are:

1.steam cracking furnaces:

2.primary and secondary heat recovery with quench;
3.a dilution steam recycle system between the furnaces and the quench system;
4.primary compression of the cracked gas (3 stages of compression);
5.hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide removal (acid gas removal);
6.secondary compression (1 or 2 stages);
7.drying of the cracked gas;
8.cryogenic treatment;
9.all of the cold cracked gas stream goes to the demethanizer tower. The overhead stream from the
demethanizer tower consists of all the hydrogen and methane that was in the cracked gas
stream. Cryogenically (−250 °F (−157 °C)) treating this overhead stream separates hydrogen
from methane. Methane recovery is critical to the economical operation of an ethylene plant.
10. the bottom stream from the demethanizer tower goes to the deethanizer tower. The overhead
stream from the deethanizer tower consists of all the C2's that were in the cracked gas stream.
The C2 stream contains acetylene, which is explosive above 200 kPa (29 psi). If the partial
pressure of acetylene is expected to exceed these values, the C2 stream is partially
hydrogenated. The C2's then proceed to a C2 splitter. The product ethylene is taken from the
overhead of the tower and the ethane coming from the bottom of the splitter is recycled to the
furnaces to be cracked again;
11. the bottom stream from the de-ethanizer tower goes to the depropanizer tower. The overhead
stream from the depropanizer tower consists of all the C3's that were in the cracked gas stream.
Before feeding the C3's to the C3 splitter, the stream is hydrogenated to convert the
methylacetylene and propadiene (allene) mix. This stream is then sent to the C3 splitter. The
overhead stream from the C3 splitter is product propylene and the bottom stream is propane
which is sent back to the furnaces for cracking or used as fuel.
12. The bottom stream from the depropanizer tower is fed to the debutanizer tower. The overhead
stream from the debutanizer is all of the C4's that were in the cracked gas stream. The bottom
stream from the debutanizer (light pyrolysis gasoline) consists of everything in the cracked gas
stream that is C5 or heavier.

Since ethylene production is energy intensive, much effort has been dedicated to recovering heat
from the gas leaving the furnaces. Most of the energy recovered from the cracked gas is used to make
high pressure (1200 psig (8300 kPa)) steam. This steam is in turn used to drive the turbines for
compressing cracked gas, the propylene refrigeration compressor, and the ethylene refrigeration
compressor. An ethylene plant, once running, does not need to import steam to drive its steam
turbines. A typical world scale ethylene plant (about 1.5 billion pounds (680 KTA) of ethylene per
year) uses a 45,000 horsepower (34,000 kW) cracked gas compressor, a 30,000 hp (22,000 kW)
propylene compressor, and a 15,000 hp (11,000 kW) ethylene compressor.

Steam cracking furnaces licensors

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_cracking#:~:text=Steam cracking is a petrochemical,and propene (or propylene). 2/3

6/28/2020 Steam cracking - Wikipedia

Several proprietary designs are available under a license that must be purchased from the design
developer by any petroleum refining company desiring to construct and operate a Steam Cracking
unit of a given design.

These are the major steam cracking furnaces designers and licensors:

McDermott International (formerly CB&I), with Lummus Technology's license

TechnipFMC (formerly Technip) [4]
Linde [5]
KBR [6]

See also

Related Articles
Petroleum
Petroleum Refining Processes
Natural gas
Cracking

Notes and references

1. Giovanni Maggini (2013-04-17). "Technology Economics: Propylene via Propane
Dehydrogenation, Part 3" (http://www.slideshare.net/intratec/technology-economics-propylene-via
-propane-dehydrogenation-part-3). Slideshare.net. Retrieved 2013-11-12.
2. Zimmermann, Heinz; Walzl, Roland (2009). Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry.
Weinheim: Wiley-VCH. doi:10.1002/14356007.a10_045.pub3 (https://doi.org/10.1002%2F143560
07.a10_045.pub3).
3. Amghizar, Ismaël; Vandewalle, Laurien A.; Van Geem, Kevin M.; Marin, Guy B. (2017). "New
Trends in Olefin Production". Engineering. 3 (2): 171–178. doi:10.1016/J.ENG.2017.02.006 (http
s://doi.org/10.1016%2FJ.ENG.2017.02.006).
4. "Ethylene - TechnipFMC plc" (https://www.technipfmc.com/en/what-we-do/onshore-offshore/Onsh
ore-capabilities/Ethylene). www.technipfmc.com. Retrieved 2020-01-13.
5. "Cracking furnace technology" (https://www.linde-engineering.com/en/process-plants/petrochemic
al-plants/steam_cracking_technology/cracking_furnaces_technology/index.html). Linde
Engineering. Retrieved 2020-01-13.
6. "Petrochemical Technologies | KBR" (https://www.kbr.com/en/solutions/technologies/process-tech
nologies/petrochemical-technologies). www.kbr.com. Retrieved 2020-01-27.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Steam_cracking&oldid=952829153"

This page was last edited on 24 April 2020, at 08:09 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this
site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_cracking#:~:text=Steam cracking is a petrochemical,and propene (or propylene). 3/3