Steam feedstocks

The mixed steam/feedstock mixture is then passed to the tubular reformer where it is reformed to synthesis gas over a nickel catalyst contained in high alloy tubes. 

The feedstock usually comes from catalytic cracking, sometimes from steam cracking. The reaction products are Cy-Cg isoparaffins. The byproducts are the C3-C4 n-paraffins which do not react. 

Typical steam cracking feedstock composition and yields. 

In a single stage, without liquid recycle, the conversion can be optimized between 60 and 90%. The very paraffinic residue is used to make lubricant oil bases of high viscosity index in the range of 150 N to 350 N the residue can also be used as feedstock to steam cracking plants providing ethylene and propylene yields equal to those from paraffinic naphthas, or as additional feedstock to catalytic cracking units. 

Olefins are produced primarily by thermal cracking of a hydrocarbon feedstock which takes place at low residence time in the presence of steam in the tubes of a furnace. In the United States, natural gas Hquids derived from natural gas processing, primarily ethane [74-84-0] and propane [74-98-6] have been the dominant feedstock for olefins plants, accounting for about 50 to 70% of ethylene production. Most of the remainder has been based on cracking naphtha or gas oil hydrocarbon streams which are derived from cmde oil. Naphtha is a hydrocarbon fraction boiling between 40 and 170°C, whereas the gas oil fraction bods between about 310 and 490°C. These feedstocks, which have been used primarily by producers with refinery affiliations, account for most of the remainder of olefins production. In addition a substantial amount of propylene and a small amount of ethylene ate recovered from waste gases produced in petroleum refineries. 

ElexibiHty allows the operator to pick and choose the most attractive feedstock available at a given point in time. The steam-cracking process produces not only ethylene, but other products as weU, such as propylene, butadiene, butylenes (a mixture of monounsaturated C-4 hydrocarbons), aromatics, etc. With ethane feedstock, only minimal quantities of other products ate produced. As the feedstocks become heavier (ie, as measured by higher molecular weights and boiling points), increasing quantities of other products are produced. The values of these other coproduced products affect the economic attractiveness and hence the choice of feedstock. 

Steam Reforming. When relatively light feedstocks, eg, naphthas having ca 180°C end boiling point and limited aromatic content, are available, high nickel content catalysts can be used to simultaneously conduct a variety of near-autothermic reactions. This results in the essentiaHy complete conversions of the feedstocks to methane ... 

Chemical Use. Both natural gas and natural gas Hquids are used as feedstocks in the chemical industry. The largest chemical use of methane is through its reactions with steam to produce mixtures of carbon monoxide and hydrogen (qv). This overall endothermic reaction is represented as... 

Natural gas Hquids represent a significant source of feedstocks for the production of important chemical building blocks that form the basis for many commercial and iadustrial products. Ethyleae (qv) is produced by steam-crackiag the ethane and propane fractions obtained from natural gas, and the butane fraction can be catalyticaHy dehydrogenated to yield 1,3-butadiene, a compound used ia the preparatioa of many polymers (see Butadiene). The / -butane fractioa can also be used as a feedstock ia the manufacture of MTBE. 

Petroleum resins are low molecular weight thermoplastic hydrocarbon resins synthesized from steam cracked petroleum distillates. These resins are differentiated from higher molecular weight polymers such as polyethylene and polypropylene, which are produced from essentially pure monomers. Petroleum resin feedstocks are composed of various reactive and nonreactive aliphatic and aromatic components. The resins are usually classified as C-5... 

The feedstocks used ia the production of petroleum resias are obtaiaed mainly from the low pressure vapor-phase cracking (steam cracking) and subsequent fractionation of petroleum distillates ranging from light naphthas to gas oil fractions, which typically boil ia the 20—450°C range (16). Obtaiaed from this process are feedstreams composed of atiphatic, aromatic, and cycloatiphatic olefins and diolefins, which are subsequently polymerized to yield resias of various compositioas and physical properties. Typically, feedstocks are divided iato atiphatic, cycloatiphatic, and aromatic streams. Table 2 illustrates the predominant olefinic hydrocarbons obtained from steam cracking processes for petroleum resia synthesis (18). 

Taking into account the purification losses, the following operating requirements are necessary in order to obtain 100 kg of purified acetylene 200 kg hydrocarbons (feedstock plus quench), 1030 kWh electric energy for the arc, 250 kWh electric energy for the separation unit, and 150 kg steam. 

Nickel catalysts are also used for steam methane reforming. Moreover, nickel catalysts containing potassium to inhibit coke formation from feedstocks such as LPG and naphtha have received wide appHcation. 

The soaking phase takes place in the rest of the reactor where the gas is at high temperatures. A portion of the carbon disappears by reactions with CO2 and steam. Some carbon, about 1—3 wt % of the oil feed, is present in the product gas. Natural gas feedstock produces only about 0.02 wt % of carbon. 

The gasification reactor is a vertical, empty, steel pressure vessel with a refractory lining into which preheated feedstock and steam are introduced premixed with oxygen. Steam-to-oil weight ratio is 0.35 1 the oxygen-to-oil ratio is 1.05 1. 

Synthesis Gas Generation Routes. Any hydrocarbon that can be converted into a synthesis gas by either reforming with steam (eq. 4) or gasification with oxygen (eq. 5) is a potential feedstock for methanol. 

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