(532bv) Simulation of Naphtha Cracking for Ethylene Production

Ethylene is an important building block for many valuable chemical products.
The thermal cracking of light naphtha mixture for ethylene production is studied. Three
important parameters were selected to study the sensitivity of the ethylene production and to
determine the optimal conditions for maximum production of ethylene. The maximum yield
of ethylene was obtained at low pressure and high temperature conditions. These conditions
favour the maximum ethylene production for all lengths of the plug flow reactor considered.
The production of ethylene drops at faster rate on increasing pressure at high temperatures,
while slight increase is observed at low temperatures. The effect of reactor length on
the ethylene production, showed that relatively high production rate can be obtained by
decreasing temperature and increasing the reactor length.