Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila

University of the City of Manila

Gen. Luna cor. Muralla St., Intramuros, Manila, Metro Manila

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,

Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila

University of the City of Manila
Gen. Luna cor. Muralla St., Intramuros, Manila, Metro Manila
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.

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.
Ethylene undergoes oxidation by palladium to give acetaldehyde. This
conversion remains a major industrial process (10M kg/y). The process
proceeds via the initial complexation of ethylene to a Pd(II) center.
Halogenation and hydrohalogenation
Major intermediates from the halogenation and hydrohalogenation of
ethylene include ethylene dichloride, ethyl chlorideand ethylene dibromide.

Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila

University of the City of Manila
Gen. Luna cor. Muralla St., Intramuros, Manila, Metro Manila
The addition of chlorine entails "oxychlorination," i.e. chlorine itself is not
used. Some products derived from this group are polyvinyl
chloride, trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene, methyl
chloroform, polyvinylidene chloride and copolymers, and ethyl bromide.

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 styrenebutadiene 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 ethylenepropylene terpolymers.

Properties of Ethylene
Molecular weight : 28.05 g/mol
Solid phase

Latent heat of vaporization (1.013

bar at boiling point) : 482.41 kJ/kg

Melting point : -169.15 C

Vapor pressure (at 5 C or 41 F) :

45.896 bar

Latent heat of fusion (1,013 bar, at

melting point) : 119.45 kJ/kg

Critical point

Liquid phase
Liquid density (1.013 bar at boiling
point) : 567.65 kg/m3
Liquid/gas equivalent (1.013 bar
and 15 C (59 F)) : 475.5 vol/vol
Boiling point (1.013 bar) : -103.77
C

Critical temperature : 9.2 C

Critical pressure : 50.42 bar
Critical density : 214.2 kg/m3
Triple point
Triple point temperature : -169.16
C
Triple point pressure : 0.00122 bar
Gaseous phase

Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila

University of the City of Manila
Gen. Luna cor. Muralla St., Intramuros, Manila, Metro Manila
Gas density (1.013 bar at boiling
point) : 2.0879 kg/m3

Specific volume (1.013 bar and 25

C (77 F)) : 0.8687 m3/kg

Gas density (1.013 bar and 15 C

(59 F)) : 1.1938 kg/m3

Heat capacity at constant pressure

(Cp) (1.013 bar and 25 C (77 F)) :
0.0431 kJ/(mol.K)

Compressibility Factor (Z) (1.013

bar and 15 C (59 F)) : 0.99361
Specific gravity : 0.975

(1.013 bar and 25 C (77 F)) :

1.2461

Philippine Companies
JG Summit Petrochemical corporation
The pre-eminent world-class manufacturer
and supplier of polyolefin products in the
Philippines. It started commercial
operations in 1998, and is the first and only
integrated Polyethylene and Polypropylene
resin manufacturer in the country, producing the Evalene brand of High
Density Polyethylene (HDPE), Linear Low Density Polyethylene (LLDPE) and
Polypropylene.

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

Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila

University of the City of Manila
Gen. Luna cor. Muralla St., Intramuros, Manila, Metro Manila
Intermediate hydrocarbon liquid stream derived from refining of crude oil. A
mixture of hydrocarbons in the boiling range of 30 to 200 .
HEAVY FUEL OIL
Fuel oil or heavy oil is a fraction obtained from
petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a
residue.
ETHANE AND PROPANE GAS
Derived from the topmost part of the fractionating
column, the lightest component in t he refining
process of crude oil.

Manufacturing Process
Exploration
The manufacturing supply chain begins with the extraction of natural
resources. In the case of ethane, it begins with shale development, through
a highly technical process that combines multi-dimensional seismic imaging,
horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. What comes out of the ground is
a mixture of different liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons, so the next steps in
the process are treating and processing the mixture to separate methane,
which is also called natural gas or dry gas, from the liquids. Methane is used
as fuel and as a feedstock for methanol and fertilizer production. The NGLs
go to another type of separation facility called a fractionator, which
separates the ethane, propane and butane.
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

Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila

University of the City of Manila
Gen. Luna cor. Muralla St., Intramuros, Manila, Metro Manila
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.
Two separate product streams come out of the
quenching tower. One product stream is water and a
mixture of heavier hydrocarbons commonly referred to
as pyrolysis gasoline. The water is cleaned and
recycled back into the quench tower. The pyrolysis
gasoline is sent to a separation unit that extracts the petrochemical
aromatics (benzene, toluene and xylenes) for use in making plastics and
other chemicals. The remaining liquid hydrocarbon mixture is used to blend
in automotive fuels or sent to a refinery for further processing.
The other product stream is a mixture of hydrogen (formed in the furnace
when ethane is destroyed) and light hydrocarbons, including:
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.