For propane cracking

Figure 8.2 Production cost breakdown for propane cracking - OPEN system...

Figure 3.23 Thermodynamic equilibrium gas composition versus reaction temperature and pressure for propane cracking [79].

When a mixture is cracked, one or more components in the feed may also be formed as products. Eor example, in the cocracking of ethane and propane, ethane is formed as a product of propane cracking and propane is formed as a product of ethane cracking. Therefore, the "out" term in the above equation contains the contribution or formation from other feed components and hence does not represent tme conversion. Eor simple mixtures, the product formation can be accounted for, and approximate tme conversions can be calculated (29). Eor Hquid feeds like naphtha, it is impractical if not impossible to calculate the tme conversion. Based on measured feed components, one can calculate a weighted average conversion (A) (30) ... 

Higher molecular weight hydrocarbons present in natural gases are important fuels as well as chemical feedstocks and are normally recovered as natural gas liquids. For example, ethane may be separated for use as a feedstock for steam cracking for the production of ethylene. Propane and butane are recovered from natural gas and sold as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Before natural gas is used it must be processed or treated to remove the impurities and to recover the heavier hydrocarbons (heavier than methane). The 1998 U.S. gas consumption was approximately 22.5 trillion ft. ... 

Butane is primarily used as a fuel gas within the LPG mixture. Like ethane and propane, the main chemical use of butane is as feedstock for steam cracking units for olefin production. Dehydrogenation of n-butane to butenes and to butadiene is an important route for the production of synthetic rubber. n-Butane is also a starting material for acetic acid and maleic anhydride production (Chapter 6). 

Propane cracking is similar to ethane except for the furnace temperature, which is relatively lower (longer chain hydrocarbons crack easier). However, more by-products are formed than with ethane, and the separation section is more complex. Propane gives lower ethylene yield, higher propylene and butadiene yields, and significantly more aromatic pyrolysis gasoline. Residual gas (mainly H2 and methane) is about two and half times that produced when ethane is used. Increasing the severity... 

Figure 3-13. The influence of conversion severity on the theoretical product yield for the cracking of propane. Acetylene, methyl acetylene, and propadiene are hydrogenated and both ethane and propane are recycled to extinction (wt%)." ...

With propene, n-butene, and n-pentene, the alkanes formed are propane, n-butane, and n-pentane (plus isopentane), respectively. The production of considerable amounts of light -alkanes is a disadvantage of this reaction route. Furthermore, the yield of the desired alkylate is reduced relative to isobutane and alkene consumption (8). For example, propene alkylation with HF can give more than 15 vol% yield of propane (21). Aluminum chloride-ether complexes also catalyze self-alkylation. However, when acidity is moderated with metal chlorides, the self-alkylation activity is drastically reduced. Intuitively, the formation of isobutylene via proton transfer from an isobutyl cation should be more pronounced at a weaker acidity, but the opposite has been found (92). Other properties besides acidity may contribute to the self-alkylation activity. Earlier publications concerned with zeolites claimed this mechanism to be a source of hydrogen for saturating cracking products or dimerization products (69,93). However, as shown in reaction (10), only the feed alkene will be saturated, and dehydrogenation does not take place. 

As part of the same study selectivity data were provided at 10-100 kPa partial pressures of n-butane at 0-17% conversion over HZSM-5 [90]. With increase in pressure and conversion secondary reactions started to occur. These results are also summarized in Table 13.6. The lowered selectivity to hydrogen, methane and ethane was attributed to increasingly less favorable conditions for monomolecular cracking. The dramatic increase in selectivity to propane which was absent at zero conversion, along with decrease in propylene was considered as signature for bimolecular cracking. More specifically, it was suggested that hydride transfer... 

The production of ethylene by gas crackers, mostly from C2, C3, and some C4 feeds, amounts to about 40% of the world ethylene capacity. This results in a small coproduction of benzene compared to benzene co-produced in naphtha and gas oil crackers, which account for 60% of the world s ethylene production capacity. A typical overall benzene yield from ethane cracking is on the order of only 0.6% of the ethane feed, and the yield of benzene from propane cracking is on the order of 3% of the propane feed. In contrast, the... 

Table III gives a range of the possible feedstocks that can be used to produce ethylene and the kinds and amounts of by-products that can be made from them. For our purposes we have selected a constant basis of 1 billion lbs/year ethylene production. The feedstocks illustrated in Table III include ethane, propane, n-butane, a full range naphtha, a light gas oil, and a heavy gas oil. The yields reflect high severity conditions with recycle cracking of ethane in all cases. For propane feed, propane recycle cracking has been included as well.

Other sources of benzene include processes for steam cracking heavy naphtha or light hydrocarbons such as propane or butane to produce a liquid product (pyrolysis gasoline) rich in aromatics that contains up to about 65 percent aromatics, about 50 percent of which is benzene. Benzene can be recovered by solvent extraction and subsequent distillation. 

The reaction proceeds via a free radical mechanism with homolytic fission occuring between the carbon-carbon atoms. The mechanism of reactions for the cracking of propane is ... 

The methyl-acetylene and propadiene in the C3 cut are hydrogenated to propylene in a liquid-phase reactor. Polymer-grade propylene is separated from propane in a C3 splitter (16). The residual propane is either recycled for further cracking, or exported. C4s and light gasoline are separated in a debutanizer (17). 

Table 9. Relevant geometric parameters for the cracking transition states of ethane, propane and i-butane.

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