Question
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What technology and strategies can resolve the huge gaps between ethylene and propylene production in certain markets?
Apr-2024
Answers
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Ujjal Mukherjee, Lummus Technology,
When there is an abundance of cheap gas such as ethane, producing ethylene from ethane is the most cost-effective production pathway. However, the product slate is severely tilted towards ethylene. Excess ethylene can be combined with 2-butene to produce propylene using metathesis, a low-cost energy-neutral process. Lummus’ olefins conversion technology is the most widely used route to convert ethylene to propylene to balance product slates in the most economic manner. When both ethane and propane are in abundance, we see a growing need for propane or propane/butane dehydrogenation technology to produce a very high yield of propylene. This approach has been adopted in the US, the Middle East, and even in China with imported propane from the US.
The other way to reduce ethylene and propylene production gaps is using mixed feed crackers designed to handle a wide range of feedstocks from ethane, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), naphtha, gasoils, and conditioned crudes and condensates. Mixed feed steam crackers have specially designed furnaces that can handle a wide range of liquids while maintaining long heater run lengths. Mixed feed crackers are particularly useful in the crude-to-chemicals strategy being adopted in many regions of the world.
Apr-2024
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