| dc.description.abstract | Ethylene is one of the most important petrochemical intermediates and feedstocks
for many different products. The motivating force of this work is to compare a new
process of ethylene production developed at Texas A&M University to the most common
processes. Ethylene is produced commercially using a wide variety of feedstocks ranging
from ethane to heavy fuel oils. Of them, the thermal cracking of ethane and propane
using a fired tubular heater is the most common process in the United States. In Europe
and Japan, where natural gas is not abundant, thermal cracking of naphtha using a fired
heater is the most common process. In addition to these processes; ethylene could also be
produced from crude oil by autothermic and fluidized bed techniques and from coal and
heavy oils by synthesis from carbon monoxide and hydrogen.
At Texas A&M University, a group of researchers developed a new process that
can convert natural gas into liquids (GTL) or to ethylene (GTE). This technology is a
direct conversion method that does not require producing syngas. When selecting a
process for ethylene production, the dominant factor is the selection of hydrocarbon
feedstocks. Based upon plant capacity of 321 million pounds of ethylene per year, this
study has shown that using natural gas, as a feedstock, is more economical than using
ethane, propane, naphtha, and other feedstocks. Therefore, it is more economical to convert natural gas directly to ethylene than separating ethane or propane from natural
gas and then converting it to ethylene. A process simulation package ProMax is used to
run the GTE process; and a software program, Capcost, is used to evaluate fixed capital
costs of the GTE process. Finally, the cost index is used to update the cost of the other
processes of ethylene production today. | en |
