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ETHYLENE PRODUCTION
Introduction
Ethylene is a basic chemical widely used in the production of everyday
items such as plastic bags, milk and food cartons, washing up liquids,
paints, anitfreeze, toys and car components. Along with propylene,
butenes, butadiene, benzene, toluene and xylenes, ethylene and other
petrochemicals are used as building block materials that affect most
manufacturing supply chains. Petrochemicals are unique substances that
allow industrial scientists to create innovative products that are used every day throughout the
world, from aspirin and medical equipment, to football helmets and bulletproof vests. Because
ethylene is distinctive in its usefulness throughout chemistry, it is manufactured in greater
amounts than any other chemical.
What makes ethylene unique is a part of the molecule called a double bond. That area is very
reactive and particularly well-suited for many different chemical reactions, which makes
ethylene one of the most important chemicals in all chemistry.The method for producing
ethylene depends on high tech engineering and uses a tremendous amount of energy. The
common term for this engineering feat is called cracking, because the energy is used to break
apart (or crack) molecules and form new molecules, and the petrochemical plant is called a
cracker.
The most common feedstocks, or raw materials, for petrochemical manufacturing are naphtha
and light gas oil, which are derived from the oil refining process, and individual gases such as
ethane, propane and butane, which come from a complex mixture of hydrocarbons known as
natural gas liquids, or NGLs. NGLs exist under the ground in a liquid state along with methane
(natural gas), but several substances in the liquid hydrocarbon mixture are also gases above the
ground at normal temperature and pressure.
Uses of Ethylene
Major industrial reactions of ethylene include in order of scale: 1)polymerization, 2) oxidation,
3) halogenation and hydrohalogenation, 4)alkylation, 5) hydration, 6) oligomerization, and
7) hydroformylation. In theUnited States and Europe, approximately 90% of ethylene is used to
produceethylene oxide, ethylene dichloride, ethylbenzene and polyethylene.
Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila
University of the City of Manila
Gen. Luna cor. Muralla St., Intramuros, Manila, Metro Manila
Polymerization
Polyethylene consumes more than half of world ethylene supply. Polyethylene, also
called polythene, is the world's most widely used plastic. It is primarily used to make films
in packaging, carrier bags and trash liners. Linear alpha-olefins, produced
by oligomerization (formation of short polymers) are used
as precursors, detergents, plasticisers, synthetic lubricants, additives, and also as co-monomers
in the production of polyethylenes.
Oxidation
Ethylene is oxidized to produce ethylene oxide, a key raw material in the production
of surfactants and detergents by ethoxylation. Ethylene oxide is also hydrolyzed to
produce ethylene glycol, widely used as automotive antifreeze as well as higher molecular
weight glycols, glycol ethers and polyethylene terephthalate.
Alkylation
Major chemical intermediates from the alkylation with ethylene is ethylbenzene, precursor
to styrene. Styrene is used principally in polystyrene for packaging and insulation, as well as
in styrene-butadiene rubber for tires and footwear. On a smaller scale, ethyltoluene,
ethylanilines, 1,4-hexadiene, and aluminium alkyls. Products of these intermediates
includepolystyrene, unsaturated polyesters and ethylene-propylene terpolymers.
Properties of Ethylene
Molecular weight : 28.05 g/mol Critical density : 214.2 kg/m3
Latent heat of fusion (1,013 bar, at melting Triple point pressure : 0.00122 bar
point) : 119.45 kJ/kg
Gaseous phase
Liquid phase
Gas density (1.013 bar at boiling point) :
Liquid density (1.013 bar at boiling point) : 2.0879 kg/m3
567.65 kg/m3
Gas density (1.013 bar and 15 °C (59 °F)) :
Liquid/gas equivalent (1.013 bar and 15 °C 1.1938 kg/m3
(59 °F)) : 475.5 vol/vol
Compressibility Factor (Z) (1.013 bar and 15
Boiling point (1.013 bar) : -103.77 °C °C (59 °F)) : 0.99361
Philippine Companies
JG Summit Petrochemical corporation
Address: United Mandaluyong Fire Emergency and Rescue Volunteer Inc., Pinatubo,
Mandaluyong, 1550 Metro Manila
RAW MATERIALS
Refined crude oil is separated into different components. Almost any of the separated
components of the refining process can be used as the main raw material in cracking to
produce ethylene and propylene. But here are the most common hydrocarbons used in the
petrochemical refining process:
NAPHTHAS
Intermediate hydrocarbon liquid stream derived from refining of crude oil. A mixture of
hydrocarbons in the boiling range of 30 to 200 ℃.
Fuel oil or heavy oil is a fraction obtained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a
residue.
Derived from the topmost part of the fractionating column, the lightest component in t he
refining process of crude oil.
Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila
University of the City of Manila
Gen. Luna cor. Muralla St., Intramuros, Manila, Metro Manila
Manufacturing Process
Exploration
Cracking
Once the ethane is separated it is shipped by pipeline to a cracker facility, which is a very
sophisticated series of processes that convert the ethane to ethylene. The first process is using
steam to transport a mixture of ethane and a small amount of propane to a series of industrial
furnaces and heating it to approximately 1500 degrees Fahrenheit, which requires a lot of
energy. At that temperature single bond of the ethane molecule is loosened to the point that it
loses two of the hydrogen atoms. The two hydrogen atoms combine and form a stable
hydrogen molecule known as H2. In addition to ethylene, a number of other molecules are
formed, but ethylene is in much greater abundance (about 80 percent) than the other
substances.
Quenching
The next step is sending the mixture of very hot gases – liquids also become gases at that
temperature – to a series of heat exchangers that use steam to cool the gaseous mixture. Once
cooled, the mixture of steam and gases go to a tower where cold water is poured onto it from
above to force all the different liquids to the bottom. These liquids are usually hydrocarbons
with more than five carbon atoms. This process is also called quenching and the tower is
referred to as a quenching tower.
Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila
University of the City of Manila
Gen. Luna cor. Muralla St., Intramuros, Manila, Metro Manila
Ethane Butane
Ethylene Butenes
Propane Butadiene
Propylene
Compression
After leaving the quench tower, the gaseous mixture (including the hydrogen) goes to a
compressor that squeezes the molecules together. From there the compressed mixture of
gases goes to a condenser where it is further cooled, then to a high tech refrigeration unit
called a cold box, which reduces the temperature to the point at which the mixture, other than
methane and hydrogen, turns into a liquid. Since ethane remains a liquid down to minus 128.2
degrees Fahrenheit (minus 89 C), the cold box has to be very, very cold. Once the gases are
liquefied, the mixture goes through a series of tall towers called distillation units that are
precisely controlled for temperature. Since liquefied gases boil (turn back into gases) at
different temperatures, the distillation towers can control the isolation and removal of specific
gases during this process.
Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila
University of the City of Manila
Gen. Luna cor. Muralla St., Intramuros, Manila, Metro Manila