Cracking, of petroleum

Secondary butyl alcohol, methylethyl car-binol, 2-butanol, CH3CH2CH(Me)OH. B.p. I00°C. Manufactured from the butane-butene fraction of the gas from the cracking of petroleum. Used to prepare butanone. 

Almost any hydrocarbon can serve as a starting material for production of ethylene and propene Cracking of petroleum (Section 2 16) gives ethylene and propene by processes involving cleavage of carbon-carbon bonds of higher molecular weight hydrocarbons... 

Aromatic. Aromatic feedstreams (C-8, C-9, C-10) derived from the steam cracking of petroleum distillates are composed of styrene, iadene, vinyltoluenes (eg, meta- and i ra-methylstyrene), and their respective alkylated analogues. A typical aromatic feedstream might contain 50% reactive olefins with the remainder being alkylated benzenes and higher aromatics. 

Gyclopentadiene/Dicyclopentadiene-Based Petroleum Resins. 1,3-Cyclopentadiene (CPD) is just one of the numerous compounds produced by the steam cracking of petroleum distillates. Due to the fact that DCPD is polymerized relatively easily under thermal conditions without added catalyst, resins produced from cycloaHphatic dienes have become a significant focus of the hydrocarbon resin industry. 

Butadiene. Although butadiene was produced in the United States in the eady 1920s, it was not until the start of Wodd War 11 that significant quantities were produced to meet the war effort. A number of processes were investigated as part of the American Synthetic Rubber Program. Catalytic dehydrogenation of / -butenes and / -butanes (Houdry process) and thermal cracking of petroleum hydrocarbons were chosen (12). 

Detergents have been manufactured from long-chain alkenes and sulfuhc acid, especially those obtained from shale oil or cracking of petroleum wax. These are sulfated with 90—98 wt % acid at 10—15°C for a 5-min contact time and at an acid—alkene molar ratio of 2 1 (82). Dialkyl sulfate initially forms when 96 wt % acid is added to 1-dodecene at 0°C, but it is subsequently converted to the hydrogen sulfate in 80% yield upon the further addition of sulfuhc acid. The yield can be increased to 90% by using 98 wt % sulfuhc acid and pentane as the solvent at -15°C (83). 

Homogeneous reactions are those in which the reactants, products, and any catalysts used form one continuous phase (gaseous or liquid). Homogeneous gas phase reactors are almost always operated continuously, whereas liquid phase reactors may be batch or continuous. Tubular (pipeline) reactors arc normally used for homogeneous gas phase reactions (e.g., in the thermal cracking of petroleum of dichloroethane lo vinyl chloride). Both tubular and stirred tank reactors are used for homogeneous liquid phase reactions. 

The Houdry Process is used in the catalytic cracking of petroleum. 

Methane is obtained commercially from natural gas wells and from cracking of petroleum fractions. 

There is some similarity between the cracking of petroleum and the cracking of biomass. However, biomass is more complex chemically both in terms of structrual types and functional groups. In petrochemistry, hydrocarbons are fractionated and they are then functionalized by oxidation, halogenation, nitration and other chemical processes so as to add value. The commodity chemicals are then built up into more complex molecules using such popular synthetic methods as Friedel Craft reactions, Michael and aldol condensations, and Heck and Suzuki couplings. The speciality products of these reactions are then further elaborated into formulations for use in everyday applications ranging from personal care... 

Fluidized bed reactors were first employed on a large scale for the catalytic cracking of petroleum fractions, but in recent years they have been employed for an increasingly large variety of reactions, both catalytic and non-catalytic. The catalytic reactions include the partial oxidation of naphthalene to phthalic anhydride and the formation of acrylonitrile from propylene, ammonia, and air. The noncatalytic applications include the roasting of ores and Tie fluorination of uranium oxide. 

When several reactions occur simultaneously a degree of advancement is associated with each stoichiometric equation. Problem P4.01.26 is a application of this point. Some processes, for instance cracking of petroleum fractions, involve many substances. Then a correct number of independent stoichiometric equations must be formulated before equilibrium can be calculated. Another technique is to apply the principle that equilibrium is at a minimum of Gibbs free energy. This problem, however, is beyond the scope of this book. 

RhUIDIZEd cracking of petroleum fractions is still the main process for large-scale gasoline production even 40 years after its introduction. Worldwide cracking-catalyst sales in 1987 amounted to about 457 million and represented 48% of the total catalyst sales to the petroleum industry. 

This type of reactor aims to challenge fast fluidization with its 1 to 10 second gas residence time as the prime reactor for the catalytic cracking of petroleum. The claim is that the higher cracking temperature and shorter residence time will give a very different—and better—distribution of reaction products. 

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