Ethylene oxide production capacity

In the organic synthesis, the consumption of raw materials accoimts for 50% 80% of the production cost, so the selectivity of catalyst affecting the consmnption of raw materials has a huge economic significance. For example, the cost of aU equipment accounts for about 1% of the jdeld of ethylene oxide for production equipment of ethylene oxide with capacity of 50 kt. The increase in the cataljdic selectivity sometimes can be represented in saving the investment of capital construction and the energy consumption of the separation process. 

Only Japan and the United States have significant commercial faciUties for the production of poly(ethylene oxide) resins. In Japan, Meisei Chemical Works Ltd. produces Alkox and Sumitomo Seika Kagaky Co., Ltd., PEO. In the United States, Union Carbide Corp. produces Polyox. Precise figures have not been released on capacities or aimual production. 

There are 12 producers of ethylene oxide ia the United States. Table 9 shows the plant locations, estimated capacities, and types of processes employed. The total U.S. production capacity for 1992 was ca 3.4 x 10 metric tons. The percentages of total domestic production made by the air- and oxygen-based processes are ca 20 and 80%, respectively. The largest producer is Union Carbide Corp. with approximately one-third of the United States ethylene oxide capacity. About 94% of domestic ethylene oxide capacity is located on the Gulf Coast near secure and plentiful ethylene suppHes. Plans for additional U.S. production ia the 1990s have been announced by Union Carbide (incremental expansions), Eormosa Plastics (at Pt. Comfort, Texas), and Shell (at Geismar, Louisiana) (101). 

For the same production capacity, the oxygen-based process requires fewer reactors, all of which operate in parallel and are exposed to reaction gas of the same composition. However, the use of purge reactors in series for an air-based process in conjunction with the associated energy recovery system increases the overall complexity of the unit. Given the same degree of automation, the operation of an oxygen-based unit is simpler and easier if the air-separation plant is outside the battery limits of the ethylene oxide process (97). 

United States production of ethylene oxide in 1990 was 2.86 x 10 metric tons. Approximately 16% of the United States ethylene (qv) production is consumed in ethylene oxidation, making ethylene oxide the second largest derivative of ethylene, surpassed only by polyethylene (see Olefin polymers). World ethylene oxide capacity is estimated by country in Table 11. Total world capacity in 1992 was ca 9.6 x 10 metric tons. 

Table 11. World Production Capacities for Ethylene Oxide ...

Table 8.1 shows the stochastic model solution for the petrochemical system. The solution indicated the selection of 22 processes with a slightly different configuration and production capacities from the deterministic case, Table 4.2 in Chapter 4. For example, acetic acid was produced by direct oxidation of n-butylenes instead of the air oxidation of acetaldehyde. Furthermore, ethylene was produced by pyrolysis of ethane instead of steam cracking of ethane-propane (50-50 wt%). These changes, as well as the different production capacities obtained, illustrate the effect of the uncertainty in process yield, raw material and product prices, and lower product... 

Since 1961, the industrial importance of the hydroformylation reaction has been threatened by newer processes (19) such as the Ziegler polymerization of ethylene, the Wacker process, and the direct oxidation of petroleum (153). The industrial aspects of the Oxo reaction were reviewed in 1965 when the world production capacity for Oxo products was estimated at 0.5 million tons per year (39). 

Ethylene oxide is listed among the 25 chemicals of highest production volume in the U.S., whose production capacity is estimated at 6.1 billion lb/yr. This is about 43) of world production capacity (refs. 76a, b). At room temperature and atmospheric pressure ethylene oxide (ETO) is a colorless gas. Is has a characteristic odor, generally described at ether-like, whose detection threshold varies widely in humans. The mean detection threshold is estimated at 700 ppm (1260 mg/m3). It is miscible with water, alcohol, ether find most other organic solvents. 

Together with China Petroleum Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) in a 50-50 partnership, BASF planned to build its first Verbund project in East Asia - an integrated petrochemical site (IPS) on 220 hectares of land. The core of the project was an ethylene cracker with a capacity of 600,000 tons per year. Nine new plants downstream would be supplied by the cracker, producing 1.7 million metric tons of chemical products for local consumption, including ethylene, aromatics, poly-ethylenes, ethylene oxide and ethylene glycols, acrylic acid, acrylates, oxo alcohols, formic acid, propionic acid, methylamine, and dimethylformamide. 

Despite such obstacles, unilateral decisions were taken and bilateral arrangements carried out among firms, leading to some measure of production rationalization. Between 1980 and 1984, twenty-five ethylene and eight polyethylene units were scrapped in Western Europe while ethylene oxide capacities were reduced by 10 percent. 

In 1999, U.S. ethylene oxide capacity was 9.1 billion lb with production of 8.2 billion lb. 

The calculation of the factor (ey/ar)8, SaC T may be illustrated by the example used in Section II, the catalytic oxidation of ethylene. The two modes of oxidation of ethylene are used as the key reactions, and ethylene oxide and carbon dioxide are selected as the key components. The reactions and the corresponding stoichiometric matrices are shown in Section II. In the range of temperature between 200° and 350 0., the heat capacities of the reactants are nearly enough linear functions of the temperature, and accordingly the product S CPT, the matrix of changes of heat capacity for the key reactions, will be a linear function of the temperature. The matrix is found to be... 

Successful examples of selective oxidation catalysis in industry include the conversions of ethylene to ethylene oxide and of methanol to formaldehyde, both on silver catalysts. Ethylene oxide, with an annual worldwide production capacity over 11 million tons, is an important intermediate for the production of glycols (antifreeze agents), ethoxylates (additives in washing powder), cosmetics, polyester fibers, and pharmaceuticals. The partial oxidation of ethylene to ethylene oxide is carried out on silver metal particles supported on o -Al203 or SiC and promoted by alkaline earth or alkali metals. Trace amounts of ethylene dichloride are also fed continuously into the reactor to suppress deep oxidation. Selectivities of about 75-85% are typical nowadays for this process. Formaldehyde, with a production capacity of... 

The future of the commercial acetaldehyde processes mainly depends on the availability of cheap ethylene. Acetaldehyde has been replaced as a precursor for 2-ethylhexanol ( aldol route ) or acetic acid (via oxidation cf. Sections 2.1.2.1 and 2.4.4). New processes for the manufacture of acetic acid are the Monsanto process (carbonylation of methanol, cf. Section 2.1.2.1), the Showa Denko one-step gas-phase oxidation of ethylene with a Pd-heteropolyacid catalyst [75, 76], and Wacker butene oxidation [77]. Other outlets for acetaldehyde such as pentaerythritol and pyridines cannot fill the large world production capacities. Only the present low price of ethylene keeps the Wacker process still attractive. 

With the permission of the author [3], we borrow here data (Table 1) which indicates the production capacity of the major industrial processes using oxygen for functionalizing hydrocarbons. The production of acetic acid should be added to the list, although 60% of its 6.1 million t/year total world capacity (to reach 67% in the next future) is due to the Monsanto process (methanol carbonylation) [4]. Only the rest (2.4 million t/year) is produced by oxidation of butane or other alkanes or acetaldehyde or, for a small proportion, hy the Showa Denko process (oxidation of ethylene). 

Table 12 gives the average commercial specifications of ethylene oxide. Its main uses in 1984 are listed in Table 73 for Western Europe, the United States and Japan. Production. capacities and consumption for these three geographic areas are also given. 

In 1984 theworidwide production capacity of ethylene oxide was 7.6. Mr t/year and in 1966,7.7. 10 c year with the following distribution ... 

If more than one product is to be sterilized at the same time in the same sterilizer, process validation should be completed for each combination. The lot size in many manufacturing operations is tailored" to sterilizer capacity, and in such instances it should not be difficult to avoid mixed loads. This may be more difficult for contract sterilization operations. Ethylene oxide sterilization con-tractSi should address the validation of mixed loads or prohibit them. Both routes have cost implications. 

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