Aromatic products costs

In 1987, Toray Industries, Inc., announced the development of a new process for making aromatic nitriles which reportedly halved the production cost, reduced waste treatment requirements, and reduced production time by more than two-thirds, compared with the vapor-phase process used by most producers. The process iavolves the reaction of ben2oic acid (or substituted ben2oic acid) with urea at 220—240°C ia the presence of a metallic catalyst (78). 

C, 0.356—1.069 m H2/L (2000—6000 fU/bbl) of Hquid feed, and a space velocity (wt feed per wt catalyst) of 1—5 h. Operation of reformers at low pressure, high temperature, and low hydrogen recycle rates favors the kinetics and the thermodynamics for aromatics production and reduces operating costs. However, all three of these factors, which tend to increase coking, increase the deactivation rate of the catalyst therefore, operating conditions are a compromise. More detailed treatment of the catalysis and chemistry of catalytic reforming is available (33—35). Typical reformate compositions are shown in Table 6. 

Figure 7. Effect of aromatics by-product price structure and naphtha feed price on U.S. ethylene production costs (1000 MM Ibs/yr ethylene production from naphtha feed premium value by-products)...

Figure 7 shows the effect on ethylene production cost from naphtha cracking with BTX aromatics value increases as a parameter. (The basis we have used for determining the effect of aromatics price increases is given in Table XII). Figure 7 indicates that a 5 /gal increase in BTX... 

With imported naphtha at, say 1.1 /lb and aromatics at current values, ethylene cost is 1.94 /lb. However, with finished aromatics valued at 5 /gal over the current base values, production cost drops to 1.59 /lb. The breakeven curves for naphtha vs. ethane, propane, and n-butane are given in Figures 8, 9, and 10. These assume premium byproducts, with aromatics valued above current levels, but do not include the effect of increased propylene and butylene valuations that would further accentuate the picture. With 1.1 /lb naphtha and aromatics at 5 /gal above current prices, the breakeven prices for ethane, propane, and n-butane are 0.33, 0.7, and 0.83 /lb, respectively. Such prices are... 

L-Tryptophan (L-Trp) was produced, mainly by Japanese companies, on a scale of 500-6001 a-1 in 1997 [70]. It is an essential amino acid that is used as a food and feed additive and in medical applications. L-Trp is, at US 50 kg-1 (feed quality), the most expensive aromatic amino acid and it is thought that the market for L-Trp could expand drastically if the production costs could be brought down. There is no chemical process for L-TrP and enzymatic procedures starting from indole, which were very efficient, could not compete with fermentation [95]. L-Trp has been produced by precursor fermentation of anthranilic acid (ANT, see Fig. 8.16), but the serious effects of minor by-products caused the process to be closed down. Since the mid-1990s all L-Trp is produced by de novo fermentation. 

The acquisition of experimental phase equihbrium data for ionic hquid-organic mixtures has displayed that ionic liquids are suitable for the separation of industrially relevant organic mixtures, in particular, for aromatic-ahphatic separation problems. Ionic hquids are indeed a very promising class of solvents that offer numerous advantages over commercially applicable solvents, most notably in flexibility, separation efficiency and economy. However, considerable challenges (biotoxicity, viscosity, solvent production cost and purity) have to be addressed before the full scale industrial implementation of ionic liquids in separation processes can be realized. 

The previous section demonstrated the microbial synthesis of BIAs from aromatic intermediate such as dopamine or simple BIA norlaudanosoline. The production cost of using an expensive material as a substrate is relatively high. Hence, developing a new process that can convert BIAs from less expensive material such as renewable sources (e.g., glucose, glycerol) is important. 

The elimination of lead, the reduction of aromatics in gasoline, and the desulfurization of diesel fuels are oing to require significant reformulations of these products that will irripiy development of specific additives that allow the refiner to optimize costs while meeting the required specifications. 

Typical COED syncmde properties are shown in Table 12. The properties of the oil products depend heavily on the severity of hydroprocessing. The degree of severity also markedly affects costs associated with hydrogen production and compression. Syncmdes derived from Western coals have much higher paraffin and lower aromatic content than those produced from Illinois coal. In general, properties of COED products have been found compatible with expected industrial requirements. 

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