Published August 1967
This report is concerned with processes for the manufacture of ethylene by the thermal cracking of hydrocarbons and by the synthesis from carbon monoxide and hydrogen, Also reviewed are the propylene recovery and purification processes.
The number of articles and patents on ethylene manufacture is so great that emphasis has been placed on literature published from 1950 to the present. Many processes are presented in the literature and quite a few are being used commercially. As it was considered impossible to evaluate each of these commercial processes in detail, only those processes that have present commercial significance or show future promise because of special technology were evaluated. These are the thermal cracking of ethane, propane, and naphtha by the fired tubular heater, the autothermic cracking of crude oil in the fluidized bed reactor, and the ethylene synthesis from carbon monoxide and hydrogen.
