Frontiers of Engineering Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2014 Symposium (2015) / Chapter Skim
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The Shale Gas Revolution: A Methane-to-Organic Chemicals Renaissance?--Eric E. Stangland
The Shale Gas Revolution: A Methane-to-Organic Chemicals Renaissance?--Eric E. Stangland
Pages 107-116
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From page 107... ...
is that they have large relative quantities of condensate or wet natural gas that contain ethane and propane fractions from which ethylene and propylene, the primary olefin feedstocks of the modern organic chemical industry, are derived. Ethylene, increasingly derived in the United States from the steam cracking of ethane (SCE)
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From page 108... ...
are plotted as the June average value for that year, whereas data after the plot break are plotted weekly. Data sources: EIA 2014a-d, ICIS Pricing Report 2014a,b.
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From page 109... ...
Methane has long held unrealized feedstock potential for organic chemical producers because it has typically traded below the cost of many potential feedstocks. The increasing availability of domestic methane will inevitably again raise questions about the viability of producing higher-value ethylene and propylene derivatives from this abundant natural gas resource.
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From page 110... ...
3 6 Methanol C H 2 6 Other H O 2 2012 ethylene capacity = 24,000 kta Oxidative Methane Coupling Methane Pyrolysis N N Overall Reaction: 2CH O C H 2H O, G 288 kJ/mol 2 Overall Reaction: CH C H H , 170 kJ/mol 2 4 2 2 4 2 4 2 4 2 CO, H2 Air Air O 2 O C H 2 2 4 C H ,C H ,C , C H 2 2 2 4 3 2 4 , C H ,C H , CO, H2 CO2 2 6 2 4 C 3 C , CO, H CH4 CH4 3 2 H O, soot C 2 3 CO, CO2, H2 CO , H O 2 2 CH4 C H 2 6 CH H 4, 2 CO 2 Methanol-to-Olefins Overall Reaction: 2CH O C H 2H O, G 288 kJ/mol 4 2 2 4 2 FIGURE Figure 2. Simplifiedflow sheets showing an ethane steam cracker of the known processes that could produce ethylene from methane resources.
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From page 111... ...
The utilization of a methane derivative, methanol, to produce olefins via the methanol-to-olefins (MTO) process is taking root in ethane-poor China, where regionally advantaged cheap and abundant coal resources outweigh the increased process complexity of MTO relative to SCE.
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From page 112... ...
Both MTO and OCM have the potential to be more thermodynamically and carbon efficient than SCE, whereas envisioned methane pyrolysis processes fall short. The overall reactions for SCE and MP are strongly endothermic, and methane must be burned to provide energy for these plants, whereas the overall exothermic reactions for MTO, and particularly OCM, take advantage of the naturally higher energy density of methane itself to drive the relevant reactions in one vessel, albeit with the help of an oxidant.
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From page 113... ...
and 2nd law thermodynamic process efficiency. Process thermodynamic efficiency was calculated by using the ratio of the estimated process Gibbs free energy change relative to the change for primary methane reaction and separation of pure reactants and products at 298 K
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From page 114... ...
The capital distributions shown in Figure 3 suggest that nearly 50 percent of the total fixed capital resources are tied to the separation and purification of ethylene, not the reaction step. While reaction section capital improvements in the form of catalysts or novel reactor design may reduce reaction capital, one cannot significantly reduce overall methane-toethylene capital without holistically addressing both the reaction and separation section.
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From page 115... ...
The unavoidable larger fraction of concomitant methane that accompanies shale gas liquids once again raises old questions regarding the economic viability of methane-to-ethylene transformation processes relative to methane's use solely as a fuel. Despite potential thermodynamic advantages for use of methane as a polyolefin source, all known methane-to-ethylene processes suffer from significantly higher capital intensities relative to incumbent steam cracking technology, discouraging domestic adoption.
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From page 116... ...
2003. Process Economics Program, Steam Cracking for Olefins Production.
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