Professional Documents
Culture Documents
prepared by
Dr. Deepshikha Datta
Sr Assistant Professor
Dept. of Chemical Engineering
GMR Institute of Technology
These starting materials are obtained from the following sources:
Ethylene from
i) fermentation alcohol,
ii) refinery off-gases, and
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M. P. -169.40C
B. P. -103.80C
Density 0.5699 @ -1030C
Explosive limit 3.0 vol. % in air, 2.9% in O2
Lower
Quantitative Requirements
a)Basis : 1 ton of ethylene
Co-products : acetylene, propylene, butylenes, butadiene, aromatics such as
benzene, toluene, xylene heavy oil residues
a)Plant capacities : 100-600 tons/day of ethylene with current trends to much
larger units
Process Description
The process to be detailed here is high temperature thermal reforming using
ethane, propane, butane and/or liquid naphtha. Superheated steam is mixed with
the hydrocarbon and fed through the heated coils of a pyrolysis furnace. The C 2-
C2 feed is pyrolyzed in a separate furnace because different residence time-
temperature conditions are required. The pyrolyzed gases are quenched in a
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waste heat steam boiler and the scrubbed with gas oil to remove solids and
heavy hydrocarbons before sending to compressors to boost pressure to 35 atms
The compression station may also handle refinery off-gases which can be
separated in the same system. Flash vaporization removes the C1-C2 fractions
which are caustic-scrubbed to remove CO2, dried with activated alumina, and
the separated into acetylene and ethylene by a combination of absorption,
extraction, and fractionation steps. Ethane is recycled for pyrolysis and the CH 4,
CO, and H2 can be further processed to obtain synthesis gas or used for fuel.
The liquid fraction from the flash chamber (C3 and higher) is split by
fractionation into a number of products. Extractive distillation is required to
separate butane-butylene and butadiene because of the close boiling point range
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Major Engineering Problems:
Choice of process
There are numerous process modifications possible in pyrolysis of
hydrocarbons. These can be categorized as:
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a)Feed type
CH4 or natural gas-gives mainly CO, H2 and C2H2
C2, C3 – gives CO, H2 and C2H2 and C2H4
C4 and higher-gives a spectrum of products but mainly controlled
for C2H2 and C2H4
a) Choice of pyrolysis agent
Heat only, non-catalytic –original process no longer attractive
Heat + catalyst –used in dehydrogenation of butylenes to butadiene
Heat + steam, non-catalytic –thermal reforming, also called steam cracking
Heat + steam, catalyst-catalyst reforming, used for synthesis gas preparation
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Quantitative requirements
•Basis : 1 ton of C2H4Cl2 (95% yield)
Ethylene : 0.30 ton
Chlorine : 0.75 ton
Ethylene dibromide catalyst – trace
Cooling water : 48 tons
Co-products : HCl, propylene chloride, polychloethanes
•Plant capacity : 30-150 tons/day
Process description:
Ethylene (with or without C2H6, Ch4, and H2 diluent) is mixed with chlorine and
bubbled through a liquid phase reactor. Ethylene dichloride product serves as the
reacting medium. Heat of reaction is controlled by external heat exchange and
recycle, or by coil or jacket heat transfer, to hold the reaction at 45-50 0C with a
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Upper 23 vol. %
Methods of Production
Classification of Processes
Ethylene dichloride thermal pyrolysis
Acetylene-HCl reaction
Ethylene dichloride-caustic reaction
Ethylene Dichloride Thermal Pyrolysis
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Quantitative requirements
•Basis : 1 ton of vinyl chloride (99.5% pure, 95% yield)
Ethylene dichloride : 1.65 tons
Heating steam : 2.0 tons
Cooling water : 30 tons
Electricity : 1.5 KWH
Fuel : 5.7 Nm3
Co-product : 0.65 ton HCl
•Plant capacities : 30-100 tons/day
Process Description:
Ethylene dichloride (EDC) vapour at 4 atms. is dried by silica gel
and sent to a stainless steel tubular cracking furnace. This is
externally flue gas fired and controlled at 480-5200C. The contact
surface catalyst within the tubes is pumice or charcoal. The
conversion per pass is around 50% and the ultimate yield is 95-
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Quantitative requirements
•Basis : 1 ton of vinyl chloride (99.5% pure, 97% yield)
Acetylene : 0.462 ton
Hydrogen chloride : 0.60 ton
•Plant capacities : 30-100 tons/day
Process Description
Acetylene and dry HCl in 5-10% molar excess are vapur
blended by jet mixing in a pipe and passed through a tubular
catalyst reactor containing carbon pellets impregnated with
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B. P. 10.70C
Density 0.896 @ 00C
Flash point -150C
Ignition temperature 4300C
Explosive limit 3 vol. % in air
Lower
80 vol. % in air
Upper
Maximum toxicity limit 25-100 ppm
Consumption Pattern
Principal outlet in the U.S. is for production of ethylene glycol, a
permanent antifreeze for automobile radiators. India will have
very little use for this derivative, but instead will find ethylene
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Quantitative requirements
•Basis : 1 ton of ethylene oxide (99% purity, 70% yield)
Ethylene : 0.92 ton
Air : 9.0 tons
Silver : 0.3 kg in fixed bed
: 0.7 kg in fluidized bed
Ethylene dichloride suppressor : 10-15 kg
Electricity : 1,500 KWH
Steam : 0.1 ton
Water : 180 tons
•Plant capacities : 30-300 tons/day
Process Description:
Ethylene of 95-98% purity and air are compressed separately, mixed together
giving 3-10% C2H4 volume concentration and passed over a catalyst of silver
oxide on a porous inert carrier such as alumina. A side reaction suppressing agent
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