Other feedstocks

In summary, these second-generation gasifiers offer promise for the future in terms of increased efficiency as weU as for use of other feedstocks, such as biomass. The older, first-generation gasifiers, however, continue to be used. 

Acetjiene has found use as a feedstock for production of chlorinated solvents by reaction with hydrogen chloride or chlorine (6). However, because of safety concerns and the lower price of other feedstock hydrocarbons, very Htfle acetylene is used to produce chlorinated hydrocarbons in the United States (see Acetylene-derived chemicals). 

Most of the products Hsted in Tables 1—3 are based on manufacture from tall oil fatty acids. Dimer acids based on other feedstocks (eg, oleic acid) may have different properties. A European manufacturer recently announced availabiUty of a 44-carbon dimer acid, presumably made from an emcic acid feedstock (7). 

Ammonia (NHj) is produced from atmospheric nitrogen and hydrogen from a hydrocarbon source. Natural gas is the most commonly used hydrocarbon feedstock for new plants other feedstocks that have been used include naphtha, oil, and gasified coal. Natural gas is favored over the other feedstocks from an environmental perspective. 

Methanol and ethanol are alcohol fuels that can be produced from various renewable sources. Alcohol fuels are converted from biomass or other feedstocks using one or several conversion techniques. Both government and private research programs are finding more effective, less costly methods of converting biomass to alcohol fuels. Methanol was originally a by-product of charcoal production, but today it is primarily produced from natural gas and can also be made from biomass and coal. 

By 2006, the U.S. had 77 ethanol plants producing more than 3 billion gallons of ethanol per year. Canada produced an additional 60 million gallons. Corn was the feedstock in 62 of the 77 U.S. plants. Other feedstocks included seed corn, corn and barley, corn and beverage waste, brewery waste, cheese whey, corn and milo, corn and wheat starch, potato waste and various sugars. The U.S. had 11 additional plants under construction and 55 proposed. West Central Soy processes soybeans to a food grade oil. Alcohol and a catalyst are then used to produce biodiesel fuel and glycerin. 

Other feedstocks are also utilized for making BDO. An alternative route to BDO involves the use of propylene oxide (PO) as its primary feedstock ... 

Another two-carbon feedstock is acetylene. Acetylene is typically obtained from coal by converting coke calcium carbide and then treating the calcium carbide with water. As shown in Figure 17.3, a number of important monomers can be made from acetylene. Even so, because of the abundance of other feedstocks from petroleum reserves, only some of the routes shown in Figure 17.3 are widely used. 

Over 100 billion pounds (50 million tons) of synthetic polymers is produced annually in the United States (Tables 1.5 through 1.8), and the growth of the industry is continuing at a fast rate. There is every reason to believe that this polymer age will continue as long as petroleum and other feedstocks are available and as long as consumers continue to enjoy the comfort, protection, and health benefits provided by elastomers, fibers, plastics, adhesives, and coatings. The 100 billion pounds of synthetic polymers consumed each year in the United States translates to over 300 pounds for every man, woman, and child in the United States. This does not include paper and wood-related products, natural polymers such as cotton and wool, or inorganic polymers (Table 1.8). 

The catalyst aging effects shown by this fauja-site containing catalyst appear to be a general phenomenon similar effects have been observed in our laboratories with other feedstocks and other zeolite-containing catalysts. Other examples have been reported in the patent literature (2 ). 

The demand for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG consisting of propanes and butanes) is projected to increase rapidly in future years.(1) World consumption is dominated by the United States and Japan. Processing of natural gas accounts for the bulk of domestic LPG however, natural gas production has leveled off forcing the LPG industry to examine other feedstock sources. Japan must look to other countries for future LPG supplies due to environmental and space limitations. An allied problem, especially in the United States, is the continuing need for isobutane to produce valuable alkylates for the gasoline pool. 

The data derived from any one, or more of the evaluation techniques described here give an indication of the feedstock behavior. The data can also be employed to give the refiner a view of the differences between different residua (Table 2-7) (and other feedstocks) thereby presenting an indication of the means by which the crude feedstock should be processed as well as for the prediction... 

Standard analyses on whole heavy crude oil or residua, such as determinations of elemental compositions and various physical property tests (Chapter 2) have served to provide some indications of processability and may give an indication of the feedstock behavior. However, there is some question of the reliability of the tests when applied to the heavier feedstocks. For example, it might be wondered if the carbon residue tests (ASTM D-189, ASTM D-524, and ASTM D-4530) are really indicative of the yields of coke formed under process conditions. And, for the heavier feedstocks, it must be emphasized that to proceed from the raw evaluation data to full-scale production, insofar as the heavy feedstock is immediately used in the rehnery, is to proceed without caution. The thermal chemistry of the feedstock constituents will remain an unknown until the feedstock is used on-stream and the compatibility of the feedstock and the products with other feedstocks and products will also be unknown. Further evaluation of the processability of the feedstock is usually necessary. 

The role of various elements in the supported catalyst requires additional work to fully understand their function. There is also a dearth of information dealing with the nature of the surface of the newer catalysts subjected to various pretreatment and exposed to model compounds such as alkyl-substituted dibenzothiophene or other feedstocks. There is a need to correlate that data from such characterization with kinetic and mechanistic studies. 

Hydrocarbons react with steam in an endothermic reaction to form carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The most important feedstock for the catalytic steam reforming process is natural gas. Other feedstocks are associated gas, propane, butane, liquefied petroleum gas, and some naphtha fractions (q.v.). The choice is usually made on the availability and the price of the raw material. 

Estimates of Model Parameters. The reactor models for FFB, MAT and riser include important features for translating the MAT and FFB data to steady state riser performance. A series of key parameters specific to a given zeolite and matrix component are needed for a given catalyst. Such key parameters are intrinsic cracking anc( coking activities (kj, A ), activation energies and heats of reaction (Ej, AHj), coke deactivation rate (exponents nj), and axial dispersion in the FFB unit (DA). Other feedstock dependent parameters include the inhibition constants (kHAj), the coking constants (XAj), and the axial molar expansion factor (a). 

We examine seven feedstocks with respect to supply, seasonality, price, and ethanol yield. In particular, we describe the price/t, the gallons of ethanol produced/t, and the feedstock cost/gal of ethanol. We examine both Midwestern corn and California-grown corn, because either crop might be used for ethanol production. In addition, the analysis for Midwestern corn provides a benchmark for comparison with corn and other feedstocks produced in California. Those alternatives include grapes, raisins, oranges, other tree fruit, almond hulls, and whey. 

Corn is the only feedstock that would be available in sufficient supply to support production of 40 million gal of ethanol, given current production levels. The current production of grain corn in California is 920,000 t, while the estimated requirement is for 449,4381 (Table 1). The proportions of supply that would be available for other feedstocks range from 5% for other tree fruit to 25% for raisins. The production, availability, and prices of feedstocks would change with farm-level and industry responses to public policies and market developments that influence the demand for ethanol production. 

Enzymatic posthydrolysis enabled monosaccharide recoveries in the range usually attained for other feedstocks to be obtain (17,18). The higher recoveries were obtained with Celluclast 1.5L and Viscozyme L, with arabinose recoveries close to 75%, xylose recoveries of 63%, and close to total glucose recovery. Furthermore, no additional production of microbial inhibitors occurs during the enzymatic step, with the exception of acetic acid. However, the long incubation time and catalyst costs may constitute important constraints for the near-term implementation of an enzyme-based conversion process to the conversion of OCL to monosaccharides. 

Olefin metathesis is also a highly versatile technique for the synthesis of polymers from renewable resources. In this respect, especially ADMET polymerization and ROMP have been used to prepare macromolecules starting from fatty acid precursors due to their inherent double-bond functionality. Nevertheless, also other feedstock and methods have been applied, as will be reviewed within this section. 

As many as 70 products were at one time produced commercially from ethanol. Some of these downstream products are butanol, 2-ethyl hexanol, crotonaldehyde, butyraldehyde, acetaldehyde, acetic acid, butadiene, sorbic acid, 2-ethylbutanol, ethyl ether, many esters, ethanol-glycol ethers, acetic anhydride, vinyl acetate, ethyl vinyl ether, even ethylene gas. Many of these products are now more economically made from other feedstocks such as ethylene for acetaldehyde and methanol-carbon monoxide for acetic acid. Time will tell when a revival of biologically-oriented processes will offer lower-cost routes to at least the simpler products. 

Partial oxidation of methane (or hydrocarbons) is another option to produce syngas [4], This process, which runs without a catalyst, needs high temperatures for high CH4 conversion and to suppress soot formation. The process can handle other feedstocks, such as heavy oil factions and biomass, and yields syngas with a H2/CO ratio of about 2. The process is eminently suitable for large-scale production of syngas (e.g. for gas-to-liquids [GTL] plants). 

ElfAtochem. At this stage anyway and for historical reasons the approach of TotalFinaElf can be considered unconventional when we compare it with that of the oil companies. With improving crude oil prices and better capacity utilization in their refinery units, the oil companies are concentrating their major reinvestments on what they consider to be their core business and limiting their production of chemicals to the base commodities derived from the olefins of the steam cracker or other feedstocks. 

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