Propylene Economic data

PrODUCHON of propylene and Cj J-C20 OLEFINS BY METATHESIS. ECONOMIC DATA (France ccmdinons, mid-1986)... 

Table 2.32 provides economic data concerning the production of propylene and n-butenes by the Catofio and Oleilex processes, and the production of long-chain olefins by the Pacol Olex technique. 

Table 7.4 gives economic data on the synthesis of propylene oxide by chlorohydrin processes and by indirect oxidation passing through r-butyl hydroperoxide. 

The main economic data concerning the process for manufacturing propylene glycol by hydration of propylene oxide are summarized in Table 7.10. 

Table 9.8 gives economic data about Oxo synthesis on propylene for processes using cobalt tetracarbonyl hydride phosphine-modified cobalt and phosphine-modified rhodium catalysts. 

The only industrial method for producing tertiary butyl alcohol is based on a variant of the Oxirane /ARCO Chemical) process for manufacturing propylene oxide,in which isobutane is used as a co-reactant and the alcohol is a co-product The technological analysis of this scheme and the related economic data are given in Section 724, which discusses the manufacture of propylene oxide. 

Table 11.14 gives tcchnico-economic data concerning the two principal processes for manufacturing acrylonitrile currently industrialized, and which involve the ammoxi-dation of propylene in a fluidized bed or a fixed catalyst bed. 

Production of propylene and C, olefins by metathesis. Economic data... 

The basis and various parameters for the economic analysis are given in Table II. The overall column efficiency used was obtained from a plot of efficiency vs. the product of relative volatility and liquid viscosity (9), corrected to match predicted (10) data for the propane-propylene system. The value from the plot (9) was increased by a factor required to make the efficiency of the propane-propylene binary distillation equal to 100%. Costs were calculated by the Venture Analysis method (II), because this method yields the appropriate weighting factors for the fixed and operating costs in order to calculate the total costs. Results are expressed as annual costs, before taxes. The important process variables are discussed below. 

In Table IV these same economics are compared against C3 alkylation costs for a given availability of propylene and referenced against a barrel of product from each respective process. The base data is the same as for Table III. 

Propylene demand will grow to the 11-billion lb level by 1973. Propylene from either heavier ethylene feed stocks or European imports will not alleviate the shortage completely. On the other handy it is not expected that price will exceed 3.1 cents/lb. In spite of decreasing propylene availability, refiners will consider release of alkylate stocks at this level. Development of an economic process for direct propylene production is in the future. Dehydrogenation or iodinative partial oxidation processes for propylene from propane are neither commercially proved nor have they been demonstrated to have economic promise. Dehydrogenation in the presence of sulfur may bypass propane dehydrogenation equilibrium limits, and preliminary experimental data are presented. 

Table III shows the effect of shifting furnace operation from propane fresh feed to ethane. Data are from Schutt and Zdonik (54). The reduction of propylene yield from ethane to negligible levels in favor of increased ethylene production cannot be done if a plant has propylene commitments. Because propylene requirements cannot be satisfied with ethane feed, Ericsson (14) has concluded that propane will continue to be the preferred feedstock to make ethylene. Actually, 85% of the U.S. ethylene plants are located in the Gulf Coast area so that they can obtain and operate on economical ethane and propane feeds. The need for propane pyrolysis has resulted in a renewal of experimental interest in this area, and in-depth studies have been made by Crynes and Albright (17) and by Buekens and Froment (7).

If a company is in the business of making and selling products such as acetic acid, vinyl chloride, propylene oxide, or other chemicals and has plans to stay in business and to expand its facilities to serve growing markets, it at least must have economically competitive processes. Today this means being competitive with not only any new processes developed in the United States, but also with any new process technology developed in Western Europe, Japan, and Russia—for the chemical industry is a worldwide industry. This is readily apparent from the data in Tables 1.10, 1.11, and 1.12, which describe the sales for the largest chemical producers in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan, respectively. Further, the processes that are operative must be environmentally compatible—all toxic or carcinogenic by-products or waste must be contained and disposed of harmlessly. Even a relatively innocuous by-product such as salt must be disposed of so as not to intrude on the environment. 

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