Steam
cracking is a well-established commercial technology for
ethylene production. Despite decades of optimization efforts, the
process is, nevertheless, highly energy and carbon intensive. This
review covers the recent advances in alternative approaches that hold
promise in the intensification of ethylene production from hydrocarbon
feedstocks ranging from methane to naphtha. Oxidative as well as nonoxidative
approaches using conventional, chemical looping, membrane, electrochemical,
and plasma-assisted systems are discussed. We note that catalysts,
electrocatalysts, and/or redox catalysts play critical roles in the
performance of these alternative ethylene production technologies.
Meanwhile, the complexity in producing polymer-grade ethylene also
requires comprehensive considerations of not only (catalytic) reactions
for ethylene formation but also feedstock preparation (e.g., air separation
for oxidative conversion) and product separations. Although these
alternative technologies have yet to be commercially implemented,
a number of oxidative approaches have shown promise for close to order-of-magnitude
reduction in energy consumption and CO2 emissions in comparison
to steam cracking. Given the substantial progress in these research
areas and the significant increase in C1 and C2 supplies resulting from the US shale gas revolution, we are excited
by the enormous opportunities and potential impacts in the advancement
and eventual implementation of significantly intensified ethylene
production technologies.