Light olefin

More precisely, the rate of ozone formation depends closely on the chemical nature of the hydrocarbons present in the atmosphere. A reactivity scale has been proposed by Lowi and Carter (1990) and is largely utilized today in ozone prediction models. Thus the values indicated in Table 5.26 express the potential ozone formation as O3 formed per gram of organic material initially present. The most reactive compounds are light olefins, cycloparaffins, substituted aromatic hydrocarbons notably the xylenes, formaldehyde and acetaldehyde. Inversely, normal or substituted paraffins. 

Alkylation is a process that produces high octane number (RON and MON) components from light olefins ( 3=, 4=, 05=) by addition of isobutane. 

Furthermore, the major problem of reducing aromatics is focused around gasoline production. Catalytic reforming could decrease in capacity and severity. Catalytic cracking will have to be oriented towards light olefins production. Etherification, alkylation and oligomerization units will undergo capacity increases. 

Low density polyethylene has been pyrolyzed at 800°C to produce ethylene, propylene, and other light olefins ia 75% yield (43). 

Mobil MTG and MTO Process. Methanol from any source can be converted to gasoline range hydrocarbons using the Mobil MTG process. This process takes advantage of the shape selective activity of ZSM-5 zeoHte catalyst to limit the size of hydrocarbons in the product. The pore size and cavity dimensions favor the production of C-5—C-10 hydrocarbons. The first step in the conversion is the acid-catalyzed dehydration of methanol to form dimethyl ether. The ether subsequendy is converted to light olefins, then heavier olefins, paraffins, and aromatics. In practice the ether formation and hydrocarbon formation reactions may be performed in separate stages to faciHtate heat removal. 

Amylenes. Amylenes (C monoolefins) produce alkylates with a research octane in the range of 90—93. In the past, amylenes have not been used widely as an industrial alkylation charge, although in specific instances, alkylation with amylenes has been practiced (23). In the future, alkylation with amylenes will become more important as limits are placed on the vapor pressure and light olefin content of gasolines. 

Propjiene [115-07-17, CH2CH=CH2, is perhaps the oldest petrochemical feedstock and is one of the principal light olefins (1) (see Feedstocks). It is used widely as an alkylation (qv) or polymer—ga soline feedstock for octane improvement (see Gasoline and other motor fuels). In addition, large quantities of propylene are used ia plastics as polypropylene, and ia chemicals, eg, acrylonitrile (qv), propylene oxide (qv), 2-propanol, and cumene (qv) (see Olefin POLYMERS,polypropylene Propyl ALCOHOLS). Propylene is produced primarily as a by-product of petroleum (qv) refining and of ethylene (qv) production by steam pyrolysis. 

Thermal Cracking. Heavy petroleum fractions such as resid are thermally cracked in delayed cokers or flexicokers (44,56,57). The main products from the process are petroleum coke and off-gas which contain light olefins and butylenes. This stream also contains a considerable amount of butane. Process conditions for the flexicoker are more severe than for the delayed coker, about 550°C versus 450°C. Both are operated at low pressures, around 300—600 kPa (43—87 psi). Flexicokers produce much more linear butenes, particularly 2-butene, than delayed cokers and about half the amount of isobutylene (Table 7). This is attributed to high severity of operation for the flexicoker (43). 

Disproportionation of Olefins. Disproportionation or the metathesis reaction offers an opportunity to convert surplus olefins to other desirable olefins. Phillips Petroleum and Institut Fransais du Petrc le have pioneered this technology for the dimerization of light olefins. The original metathesis reaction of Phillips Petroleum was intended to convert propylene to 2-butene and ethylene (58). The reverse reaction that converts 2-butene in the presence of excess ethylene to propylene has also been demonstrated (59). A commercial unit with a capacity of about 136,000 t/yr of propylene from ethylene via 2-butene has been in operation in the Gulf Coast since 1985 (60,61). In this process, ethylene is first dimerized to 2-butene foUowed by metathesis to yield propylene. Since this is a two-stage process, 2-butene can be produced from the first stage, if needed. In the dimerization step, about 95% purity of 2-butene is achieved at 90% ethylene conversion. 

Light Olefins and LPG Recovery. Even though the normal boiling point temperature of ethylene (169.4 K) is much above 120 K, its recovery often requites much lower processing temperatures, particularly when high recoveries are needed. 

Flowever, information concerning the characteristics of these systems under the conditions of a continuous process is still very limited. From a practical point of view, the concept of ionic liquid multiphasic catalysis can be applicable only if the resultant catalytic lifetimes and the elution losses of catalytic components into the organic or extractant layer containing products are within commercially acceptable ranges. To illustrate these points, two examples of applications mn on continuous pilot operation are described (i) biphasic dimerization of olefins catalyzed by nickel complexes in chloroaluminates, and (ii) biphasic alkylation of aromatic hydrocarbons with olefins and light olefin alkylation with isobutane, catalyzed by acidic chloroaluminates. 

The use of acidic chloroaluminates as alternative liquid acid catalysts for the allcy-lation of light olefins with isobutane, for the production of high octane number gasoline blending components, is also a challenge. This reaction has been performed in a continuous flow pilot plant operation at IFP [44] in a reactor vessel similar to that used for dimerization. The feed, a mixture of olefin and isobutane, is pumped continuously into the well stirred reactor containing the ionic liquid catalyst. In the case of ethene, which is less reactive than butene, [pyridinium]Cl/AlCl3 (1 2 molar ratio) ionic liquid proved to be the best candidate (Table 5.3-4). 

Butadiene is obtained mainly as a coproduct with other light olefins from steam cracking units for ethylene production. Other sources of butadiene are the catalytic dehydrogenation of butanes and butenes, and dehydration of 1,4-butanediol. Butadiene is a colorless gas with a mild aromatic odor. Its specific gravity is 0.6211 at 20°C and its boiling temperature is -4.4°C. The U.S. production of butadiene reached 4.1 billion pounds in 1997 and it was the 36th highest-volume chemical. ... 

A major use of gas oil is as a fuel for diesel engines. Another important use is as a feedstock to cracking and hydrocracking units. Gases produced from these units are suitable sources for light olefins and LPG. Liquefied petroleum gas LPG may be used as a fuel, as a feedstock to... 

Steam cracking is of special importance as a major process designed specifically for producing light olefins. It is discussed separately later in this chapter. 

Deep catalytic cracking (DCC) is a catalytic cracking process which selectively cracks a wide variety of feedstocks into light olefins. The reactor and the regenerator systems are similar to FCC. However, innovation in the catalyst development, severity, and process variable selection enables DCC to produce more olefins than FCC. In this mode of operation, propylene plus ethylene yields could reach over 25%. In addition, a high yield of amylenes (C5 olefins) is possible. Figure 3-7 shows the DCC process and Table 3-10 compares olefins produced from DCC and FCC processes. ... 

The term alkylation generally is applied to the acid catalyzed reaction hetween isohutane and various light olefins, and the product is known as the alkylate. Alkylates are the best of all possible motor fuels, having both excellent stability and a high octane number. 

The main route for producing light olefins, especially ethylene, is the steam cracking of hydrocarbons. The feedstocks for steam cracking units range from light paraffinic hydrocarbon gases to various petroleum fractions and residues. The properties of these feedstocks are discussed in Chapter 2. 

A major use of propane recovered from natural gas is the production of light olefins by steam cracking processes. However, more chemicals can be obtained directly from propane by reaction with other reagents than from ethane. This may be attributed to the relatively higher reactivity of propane than ethane due to presence of two secondary hydrogens, which are easily substituted. 

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