Ethylene separation process

Can the useful material lost in the purge streams be reduced by additional reaction If the purge stream contains significant quantities of reactants, then placing a reactor and additional separation on the purge can sometimes be justified. This technique is used in some designs of ethylene oxide processes. 

Ethylene glycol can be produced by an electrohydrodimerization of formaldehyde (16). The process has a number of variables necessary for optimum current efficiency including pH, electrolyte, temperature, methanol concentration, electrode materials, and cell design. Other methods include production of valuable oxidized materials at the electrochemical cell s anode simultaneous with formation of glycol at the cathode (17). The compound formed at the anode maybe used for commercial value direcdy, or coupled as an oxidant in a separate process. 

Alternatives to oxychlorination have also been proposed as part of a balanced VCM plant. In the past, many vinyl chloride manufacturers used a balanced ethylene—acetylene process for a brief period prior to the commercialization of oxychlorination technology. Addition of HCl to acetylene was used instead of ethylene oxychlorination to consume the HCl made in EDC pyrolysis. Since the 1950s, the relative costs of ethylene and acetylene have made this route economically unattractive. Another alternative is HCl oxidation to chlorine, which can subsequently be used in dkect chlorination (131). The SheU-Deacon (132), Kel-Chlor (133), and MT-Chlor (134) processes, as well as a process recently developed at the University of Southern California (135) are among the available commercial HCl oxidation technologies. Each has had very limited industrial appHcation, perhaps because the equiHbrium reaction is incomplete and the mixture of HCl, O2, CI2, and water presents very challenging separation, purification, and handling requkements. HCl oxidation does not compare favorably with oxychlorination because it also requkes twice the dkect chlorination capacity for a balanced vinyl chloride plant. Consequently, it is doubtful that it will ever displace oxychlorination in the production of vinyl chloride by the balanced ethylene process. 

The dephlegmator process recovers a substantially higher purity C2+ hydrocarbon product with 50—75% lower methane content than the conventional partial condensation process. The C2+ product from the cryogenic separation process can be compressed and further separated in a de-ethanizer column to provide a high purity C3+ (LPG) product and a mixed ethylene—ethane product with 10—15% methane. Additional refrigeration for the deethanization process can be provided by a package Freon, propane or propylene refrigeration system. 

Membrane Reactor. Another area of current activity uses membranes in ethane dehydrogenation to shift the ethane to ethylene equiUbrium. The use of membranes is not new, and has been used in many separation processes. However, these membranes, which are mostly biomembranes, are not suitable for dehydrogenation reactions that require high temperatures. Technology has improved to produce ceramic and other inorganic (90) membranes that can be used at high temperatures (600°C and above). In addition, the suitable catalysts can be coated without blocking the pores of the membrane. Therefore, catalyst-coated membranes can be used for reaction and separation. 

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). 

A higher glycol yield (approximately 94%) than from the ethylene oxide process is anticipated. However, there are certain problems inherent in the Oxirane process such as corrosion caused hy acetic acid and the incomplete hydrolysis of the acetates. Also, the separation of the glycol from unhydrolyzed monoacetate is hard to accomplish. 

Melt-state testing, of polymers, 19 575 Melt-to-mold thermoforming, 18 49 Melt viscosities (MVs), 21 712-714 of ethylene oxide polymers, 10 680 of FEP resin, 18 306, 308 Membrane-based reactive separation processes, 15 848... 

Downstream of the compressor is a series of fractionators (generally the tallest towers in an ethylene plant) which separate the methane and hydrogen, the ethylene, the ethane, and the propane and heavier. All are heavy metallurgy to handle the pressures and insulated to maintain the low temperatures. There s also an acetylene hydrogenator or converter in there. Trace (very small) amounts of acetylene in ethylene can really clobber some of the ethylene derivative processes, particularly polyethylene manufacture. So the stream is treated with hydrogen over a catalyst to convert the little acetylene present into ethylene. 

Figure 19. Gas-phase polymerization of ethylene (Unipol process) [2] (a) compressor, (b) cooler, (c) catalyst feed hopper, (d) reactor, (e) separator...

National Emission Standards for Closed Vent Systems, Control Devices, Recovery Devices and Routing to a Fuel Gas System or a Process National Emission Standards for Equipment Leaks—Control Level 1 National Emission Standards for Equipment Leaks—Control Level 2 Standards National Emission Standards for Oil-Water Separators and Organic-Water Separators National Emission Standards for Storage Vessels (Tanks)—Control Level 2 National Emission Standards for Ethylene Manufacturing Process Units Heat Exchange Systems and Waste Operations... 

The use of digital computers to carry out complete calculations in the design of separation processes has been the goal of many. To do this effectively, suitable methods for phase equilibria and tray-to-tray distillation calculations are required. Results calculated by the application of such methods to dehydrate aqueous ethanol mixtures using ethylene glycol as the extractive distillation solvent is discussed below. A brief review of the methods used for phase equilibria and enthalpies is followed by a discussion of the results from distillation calculations. These are compared for extractive distillation with corresponding results obtained by azeotropic distillation with n-pentane. 

Steam cracking of ethane is the most widely used process for making ethylene. U.S. 6,578,378 (to Technip-Coflexip) gives a typical ethane cracker product composition and describes an improved separation process for ethylene recovery. U.S. 5,990,370 (to BP) gives yields for ethane, propane, and mixtures. U.S. 5,271,827 (to Stone Webster) gives details of furnace design and yields for a naphtha feed. Several other separation schemes for ethylene and propylene recovery are described in the literature. Estimate the cost of production for a new steam cracking facility that produces 1 million metric tons per year of ethylene and 600,000 metric tons per year of propylene. What feedstock would you recommend ... 

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