(258g) Oxidative Dehydrogenation for the Conversion of Ethane to Ethylene

The production of ethylene via steam pyrolysis represents a technology that is decades old and depending on the feed, may result in a wide range of byproducts, some of which may be valuable. Based on experimental yield data, process development and an associated economic analysis was performed. The basis of this analysis is a cost of production model that results in a required netback for the main product ethylene. This can then be assessed versus market pricing: contract or spot. These results were compared with the expected performance of a novel catalytic route based on the M1 catalyst. This catalyst, when running on ethane, demonstrates very high selectivity, while running at much lower temperatures and similar pressures to conventional pyrolysis. Results indicate that the new route has much lower variable cost, fixed costs and capital recovery possibly reaching shutdown economic level versus certain conventional processes. The yields and processing will be reviewed with an emphasis on the comparison to conventional technology.