Knowledge expression, numerical modeling and optimization application of ethylene thermal cracking: From the perspective of intelligent manufacturing

Bi, Kexin; Zhang, Shuyuan; Zhang, Chen; Li, Haoran; Huang, Xinye; Liu, Haoyu; Qiu, Tong

doi:10.1016/j.cjche.2021.03.033

Cited by 20 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 161 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Typically, naphtha steam cracking outputs 30% ethylene, which accounts for around 50% of its revenues. [ 48 ] Thus, the GHG emission is around 2.0 t CO 2 eq (t ethylene) 1 under the economic‐basis allocation. In comparison with the steam cracking pathway, all of the five bio‐ethylene pathways showed lower GHG emissions in China.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward carbon‐neutral ethylene production: assessment of the application potential of bio‐ethylene production pathways in China

Zhang

Zhou

et al. 2022

Biofuels Bioprod Bioref

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The production of bio‐ethylene is a promising way to replace fossil‐based ethylene production, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and working towards China's carbon neutrality goals. This study elaborates on five bio‐ethylene technological pathways: first‐ and second‐generation bioethanol dehydration, direct and indirect thermochemical synthesis, and methanol‐to‐olefins (MTO). It retrieves information about them from commercial patents and the scientific literature, and comprehensively assesses their potential for application in large‐scale ethylene production in China. The techno‐economic feasibility of these five technological pathways is discussed in terms of feedstock availability, investment level, technological development level, and political issues such as the carbon neutrality goal to which China's government is committed. Overall, two pathways (indirect thermochemical synthesis and MTO) exhibited competitive minimum ethylene selling prices at 5243 yuan/t (822 USD t–1) and 6767 yuan/t (1061 USD t–1), respectively, of which both are lower than the average ethylene market price of 7000 yuan/t (1098 USD t–1). In comparison with the conventional fossil‐derived ethylene, bio‐ethylene could decrease carbon emission by 3.2%–15.1% under a scenario of 20% bio‐ethylene substitution in 2019, showing promising potential for decarbonizing the ethylene industry and contributing to the achievement of China's carbon neutrality goals. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward carbon‐neutral ethylene production: assessment of the application potential of bio‐ethylene production pathways in China

Zhang

Zhou

et al. 2022

Biofuels Bioprod Bioref

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This is especially true for ethylene plants, which form one of the most important and profitable industrial chains . Intelligent ethylene production requires an elaborate coordination of advanced technologies at different scales, including simulations at the molecular scale, advanced control at the unit scale, operation optimization at the process scale, and flexible scheduling at the factory scale . Among these, operation and/or scheduling optimization are of vital significance in improving quality and efficiency so as to achieve higher margin profits for ethylene cracking furnace systems …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Two-Level Decoupled Ethylene Cracking Optimization of Batch Operation and Cyclic Scheduling

Zhang

Qiu

2022

Ind. Eng. Chem. Res.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Intelligent ethylene production relies on the coordination of advanced optimization techniques at different decision levels. For ethylene cracking, the occurrence of dynamic drift and the semi-continuous operation mode mean that decision variables at the operation and scheduling levels are coupled and jointly determine the system performance. Therefore, a collaborative operation and scheduling optimization framework is required to improve efficiency and profitability, but this is difficult to develop because of the coupled process variables. This paper proposes a novel decoupling strategy addressing the two-level ethylene optimization problem of batch operation and cyclic scheduling. Specifically, the operation-level optimization consists of a set of nonlinear programming (NLP) models that run in parallel with different feeds, furnaces, and batch run lengths. The resulted optimal batch operation subsequences and average yields are summarized into parameter tables and passed to the upper mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model, which further determines the optimal feed allocation sequences and batch timings at the scheduling level. When applied to an industrial scheduling case, the two-level model improves the batch operations significantly, increasing the ethylene and propylene yields by 0.02–1.24 wt % and lengthening the maximum cracking time by 6–9 days for all feed types. Compared with the traditional scheduling model in which the coil outlet temperature (COT) is fixed, an increase of 2.5% in the profit margin is achieved with the use of a multi-time period operation model which allows the COT to vary and the maximum cracking days to lengthen, demonstrating the significant potential of the proposed two-level model for increasing ethylene cracking profit margins.

show abstract

“…Thermal cracking of natural gas liquids or crude oil fractions in the presence of steam is the dominant route for ethylene production. , Thermal cracking accounts for 98% of the ethylene production worldwide . Thermal cracking is energy-intensive and produces numerous byproducts, making it the most expensive in the petrochemical industry. − In general, the catalytic dehydrogenation of light alkanes is considered a promising technology due to its high selectivity toward ethylene .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and Intensification of the Ethylene Process Utilizing a Catalytic Membrane Reactor

Naqyah

Al-Rabiah

2022

ACS Omega

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ethylene is considered the most important petrochemical constituent in the world today. It is currently produced via the thermal cracking process, which is generally expensive. Ethane dehydrogenation (EDH) is endothermic, and the thermodynamic equilibrium limits its conversion. The present study explores the viability of using a catalytic membrane reactor (MR) for ethylene production from EDH. The removal of hydrogen from the reaction zone using a palladium–silver (Pd–Ag) membrane has led to a high shift in the equilibrium conversion. The effects of operating conditions and reactor configurations on the ethane conversion were investigated. The ultimate ethane conversion was 22.2% when using the MR at 660 K and 300 kPa. The ethane conversion in the shell-side of the reactor increased to ∼99% when benzene hydrogenation was added as an auxiliary reaction in the tube-side of the reactor. Two new processes for ethylene production were developed for an annual capacity of 100,000 metric tons. Cryogenic distillation was required to separate ethylene from ethane if there is no auxiliary reaction. On the other hand, the ethylene process with cyclohexane as a byproduct does not require a refrigeration cycle system, and its economic analysis shows a return on investment of 34.4%, indicating that the process is a promising technology.

show abstract

Knowledge expression, numerical modeling and optimization application of ethylene thermal cracking: From the perspective of intelligent manufacturing

Cited by 20 publications

References 161 publications

Toward carbon‐neutral ethylene production: assessment of the application potential of bio‐ethylene production pathways in China

Toward carbon‐neutral ethylene production: assessment of the application potential of bio‐ethylene production pathways in China

Two-Level Decoupled Ethylene Cracking Optimization of Batch Operation and Cyclic Scheduling

Development and Intensification of the Ethylene Process Utilizing a Catalytic Membrane Reactor

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About