Ethylene by dehydration

In the 1960s, aluminas were used for the production of ethylene by dehydration of ethanol (373,374). 

The production of ethylene by dehydration of ethanol is a proven technology and was demonstrated and implanented on large scale (Winter, 1976). Braskem started a full-scale plant in Brazil in 2010 (Braskem, 2012). The process consists of a dehydration reactor and several subsequent purification steps in order to obtain polymer-grade ethylene (composition 99.95 wt% ethylene, 0.05 wt% ethane, 5ppm CO and lOppm CO (Kochar et al., 1981)). Figure 4.6 iUustrates the ethanol dehydration process investigated in this study and lists the input data used for process simulation. 

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