Ethane thermal cracking methane production

As indicated in Table 4, large-scale recovery of natural gas Hquid (NGL) occurs in relatively few countries. This recovery is almost always associated with the production of ethylene (qv) by thermal cracking. Some propane also is used for cracking, but most of it is used as LPG, which usually contains butanes as well. Propane and ethane also are produced in significant amounts as by-products, along with methane, in various refinery processes, eg, catalytic cracking, cmde distillation, etc (see Petroleum). They either are burned as refinery fuel or are processed to produce LPG and/or cracking feedstock for ethylene production. 

Although ethylene is produced by various methods as follows, only a few are commercially proven thermal cracking of hydrocarbons, catalytic pyrolysis, membrane dehydrogenation of ethane, oxydehydrogenation of ethane, oxidative coupling of methane, methanol to ethylene, dehydration of ethanol, ethylene from coal, disproportionation of propylene, and ethylene as a by-product. 

The reactor impregnated with nickel showed inferior performance again. Deactivation was observed, which was assumed to originate from coking, sintering, oxidation of the nickel or even losses of volatile nickel species. With increasing temperature, enhanced formation of by-products, namely methane and ethane, was observed in the reformate both under partial oxidation conditions and in the autothermal mode, which was attributed to thermal cracking. 

Methane-based commercial production of ethylene via oxidative coupling has been investigated, but to date the lower per pass conversions required for acceptable ethylene selectivities combined with purified oxygen costs make this process noncompetitive with thermal cracking of ethane from natural gas liquids. 

When pentane is heated to a very high temperature, radical reactions take place that produce (among other products) methane, ethane, propane, and butane. This type of change is called thermal cracking. Among the reactions that take place are the following ... 

Common synthetic-based raw materials for surfactant production include ethylene, and propylene. Crude oil consists of a complex mixture of long chain hydrocarbons and aromatic molecules. Natural gas is a mixture of short chain hydrocarbons rich in methane, ethane, propane, and butane. The exact composition of both depends on its source and how it has been processed. Ethylene and propylene are produced by thermal or catalytic cracking of natural gas or aromatic rich petroleum streams. 

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