Ethylene price

Ethylene is first in total market value among petrochemicals. Based on 1989 production capacity of 58 x 10 t, the total potential market value would be approximately 29 x 10 based on an ethylene price of 500/t. 

From several price histories it is possible to establish caustic soda and chlorine values in different markets and hence calculate the ECU value and with it some measure of profitability. The chlorine value in export EDC can be calculated on the formula assuming the ethylene price is known. The chlorine value using hydrogen chloride is complicated by the extra costs of using HC1 rather than chlorine and the slightly lower yields with oxychlorination, though that too can be calculated to give a chlorine value. 

At a constant ethylene price, tR increases steeply when the sales price of the polymer reduces, and vice versa, in that tR reduces when the market for LDPE improves. An increase of 20% in the sales-price of LDPE gives a payback period of only 3 years. 

Acetaldehyde Cost Same as Ethylene Price, European Chem. News... 

Apart from one plant of Keiyo Ethylene (a subsidiary of Mitsui) and one plant of Mitsubishi, all of the producing plants are over 10 years old, most are over 25 years old. This means that most of the capital is fully depreciated and most plants can operate on a basis ignoring capital costs. This helps the Japanese operations to survive periods of depressed ethylene prices. 

The economics of this process, compared with the acetylene process, will depend on the ratio of acetylene to ethylene prices per unit weight. This ratio is 2 1 to 3 1, based on recent literature data 11, 29, 38). Although one cannot obtain exact data, prices of 10 cents per lb. for acetylene vs. 5 cents per lb. of ethylene have been quoted. A savings of 28 per metric ton may be obtained using the Wacker process 11, 20). 

The price relationships of the principal petrochemical products from a petrochemical refinery such as that of Figure 1 tend to fall into four broad categories. First are those chemical products which are not fuels or fuel intermediates themselves. While their pricing may be affected to some extent by fuels refinery product prices, their prices are primarily set by chemical competition and the effects of alternative process routes to the same product. Butadiene clearly falls in this class. Ethylene does also if ethylene alkylation to gasoline is regarded as a special situation having only a limited long term influence on ethylene prices. 

The future outlook for ethylene prices depends heavily on feedstocks. Natural gas liquids—primarily ethane/propane—constitute about... 

As the market for vinyl chloride grew, major petrochemical companies without existing chlorination capabilities looked to other possible routes. With falling ethylene prices, the route pursued was the addition of chlorine to ethylene, to give ethylene dichloride (EDC, 1, 2-dichloroethane), and the thermal cracking of EDC at about 550°C to vinyl chloride and HCl. 

Ethylene Price 0.753 /kg Ecoinvent 3, ethylene production, average, RER... 

Ethanol production by direct ethylene dehydration has recently become less competitive due to the high ethylene price, resulting in many shutdowns of ethylene hydration facilities. With the rising prices of petroleum crude, it is most likely that the bioroute would always be the preferred one for the production of ethanol. 

The selling price of industrial ethanol has risen rapidly in the last few years, reflecting ethylene price increases from the range of 3< to 4selling price of ethanol is approximately 1.15/gal, of which the ethylene cost is approximately 50< and the non-raw material costs total 65 /gal. The non-raw material costs include marketing charges and profit in a business that has many small customers with specialized requirements. 

The production capacity of acetic add by acetaldehyde oxidation is shrinking as the process became less economic with increasing ethylene prices. Ethylene is needed as the starting material to produce the acetaldehyde applied in the oxidation process. 

The price of ethylene from 2004-2010 represents an excellent example of the ethylene price volatility spanning relatively low feedstock costs to relatively high feedstock costs, with the price of ethylene in January 2009 illustrating the weakness in ethylene prices during a global economic recession. This data is summarized in Table 1.18. 

Manufacturing costs of petrochemical e. versus fermentation e. at a comparable plant size (both 50000 mt/a), based (1986) on an ethylene price of 3S0 /mt and a molasses price of 45 /mt, are said to be roughly the same. Because - sucrose molasses is not always available in sufficient quantity, other more expensive sugar sources have to be used, which makes the fermentation e. price actually higher than the alternative. Thus, if for any reason (e.g. as fuel additive) e. is desired, synthetic e. will be normally preferred because of its lower price. 

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