Production of Ethylene through Dehydration of Ethanol

Abstract

Ethylene (ethene), C2H4, is the largest volume building block for many petrochemicals. This olefin is used to produce many end products such as plastics, resins, fibers, etc. It is mainly derived from thermal cracking of petroleum or natural gas feedstock. The cracking process requires high temperature. In recent years, with the shortage of natural resource and energy, moreover, also with the soaring prices of crude oil, the way of ethanol dehydration into ethylene over a catalyst has drawn attention compared to the traditional route because of some advantages, such as the reduction of CO2, low production cost, and energy consumption. Plenty of molasses (a by-product of sugar industry) based ethanol is available because alcohol does not have market as a drink in country like Pakistan. In this work, a techno-economic analysis of production of ethylene from molasses based ethanol and thermal cracking of naphtha is performed and dehydration of ethanol is selected to produce ethylene. Furthermore, a laboratory experimental rig is designed and operated to carry out dehydration of ethanol in a fixed bed reactor. The dehydration reaction occurs at 315-425 oC (599-797 oF) in presence of aluminium oxide as a catalyst. A conventional purification scheme may be used to remove any trace byproduct. The reaction product is collected and analyzed by specific confirmatory tests.