Direct conversion of crude oil to olefins vs. conventional naphtha cracking to produce olefins
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Process of producing olefins directly from crude oil vs. conventional process of producing olefins from naphtha (from an IHS consulting report) 1. Advantages of the process: The new process allows for complete avoidance of the refining step; crude oil is fed directly into the cracking furnace. ↓ A flash tank is installed between the convective and radiant sections of the cracking furnace. ↓ The crude oil is preheated, and lighter components are separated through flashing. ↓ These extracted hydrocarbons are sent back to the radiant section coils within the furnace, where they are cracked in the usual manner. ↓ The heavy liquid components collected at the bottom of the flash tank are sent to an adjacent ExxonMobil refinery or sold on the market. 2. Cost advantages: According to the research in the consulting report, compared to the traditional naphtha cracking process, ExxonMobil can earn $100 to $200 per ton of ethylene produced using this new process. At the same time, this entirely new process for producing olefins from crude oil not only helps to reduce production costs, but it also offers the advantage of avoiding the higher costs associated with using naphtha as a cracking feedstock in Southeast Asia. Let’s discuss this, thank you!
There are differences in the process, but essentially no major changes occur. The light components in crude oil are separated by flashing rather than through normal fractional distillation. Meanwhile, the heating of the crude oil makes use of the heat from the convection chamber of the cracking furnace; it is a form of heat integration. Not 100% of the crude oil goes into the cracking furnace, and the amount of crude oil that enters the cracking furnace via flashing depends on the properties of the crude oil, as well as the heating temperature and flashing pressure.
Essentially, it is still the decomposition of the light oil fraction; the advantage lies in the combined optimization of certain processes, and the approach is quite good!