Catalyst-Assisted Manufacture of Olefins from Natural Gas liquids: Prototype Development and Full-Scale Testing
- Lyondell Chemical Company, Houston, TX (United States)
- BASF Qtech Inc., Mississauga ON (Canada)
The steam cracking of ethane to ethylene consumes the greatest amount energy of any process currently practiced by the US chemical industry. U.S. ethylene production consumed an estimated 450 trillion BTU of energy to produce nearly 53 billion pounds of ethylene in 2010. A significant portion of this energy consumption is to overcome the insulating effect of coke (carbonaceous deposits) on the internal surfaces of cracker furnace tubes. This buildup of coke is the result of both metal-catalyzed coke formation on the tube walls (“filamentous coke”), and deposition of gas-phase coke on the tube walls (“amorphous coke”). Coke buildup requires a continuous increase in energy input (firing of external coil tube wall) to achieve the same conversion of ethane feedstock to ethylene product, until the tubes must be taken out of service and the coke removed by steam treatment (“decoking”). This step interrupts production and increases the cost of ethylene. Coke buildup also shortens the coil life by increasing the rate of “creep” (sagging) that occurs due to higher temperature operation and migration of the deposited carbon into the coil metal.
- Research Organization:
- Lyondell Chemical Company, Houston, TX (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Office of Technology Development (EE-20)
- Contributing Organization:
- Lyondell Chemical Company & BASF Qtech Inc.
- DOE Contract Number:
- EE0005754
- OSTI ID:
- 1357597
- Report Number(s):
- EE-0005754
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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