Abstract
The substantial growth in shale-derived natural gas production in the US has caused significant changes in the chemical and petrochemical markets. Ethylene production of ethane and naphtha via steam cracking is one of the most energy- and emission-intensive activities in chemical manufacturing. High operating temperatures, high reaction endothermicity, and complex separation create high energy demands as well as considerable CO2 emissions. In this study, a demonstration of a transformational methane-to-ethylene process that offers lower emissions using energy optimization and a CO2 minimum-emission approach is presented. The comparisons of different reforming processes suggest that the dry reforming of methane has a negative carbon footprint at low syngas ratios of 1 and below, and that additional carbon emissions can be reduced using integrated heating and cooling utilities, resulting in a 99.24 percent decrease in CO2. A process design implemented to convert methane into value-added chemicals with minimum CO2 emissions is developed.
Highlights
Despite significant efforts to develop renewable energy, fossil fuels continue to dominate global energy providers as a source of 80.7% of the world’s energy, totaling 601.5 quadrillion BTU in 2020 [1]
Compared to partial oxidation (POX) and dry reforming (DR), Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) produces the highest ratio of syngas (H2/CO), while oxidizing the reformer by CO2 via DR or by O2 via POX does not help to achieve stoichiometric requirements
At high temperatures, the reverse water–gas shift (RWGS) reaction becomes dominant, which consumes the hydrogen that was produced by the SMR reaction and produces carbon monoxide as the temperature increases
Summary
Despite significant efforts to develop renewable energy, fossil fuels continue to dominate global energy providers as a source of 80.7% of the world’s energy, totaling 601.5 quadrillion BTU in 2020 [1]. Production has shifted from traditional regions, such as the Gulf of Mexico, to locations far away from the areas of consumption. This has resulted in increases in the cost of transportation. There is a need to convert natural gas into more economically desirable products, such as fuels for transportation as a liquid and those with higher energy density [2]. After shale gas is purified and fractionated, the natural gas liquids (NGLs) that are produced have a considerably higher market value than methane. Examples of chemicals that can be transformed into products include methanol [6,7], ethylene [8], propylene [9], benzene [10], and liquid transportation fuels. The importance of olefins results from the double bond in their molecular structure; when this bond is broken down, the molecules can form two new single bonds, giving a range of different reactions
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