The kinetic model of thermal cracking for olefins production

Abstract

A mathematical model of the plant thermal cracking of ethane, petroleum gases, primary naphthas and recycled alkenes co-cracking has been developed. The radiant coils, heat-isolated transfer lines and quench coolers are modelled as one-dimensional plug flow reactors, the radiation chamber as a series of isothermal surface and volume zones. The model of pyrolysis reactions involves free radical reactions and a set of pure and formal molecular reactions. The experimental data set used for the kinetic model optimisation and verification was assembled from the plant cracking of different feedstocks in reactors of various configurations under diverse reaction conditions. The combination of random adaptive and relaxation algorithms was successfully used for the kinetic model optimisation. The rough, refinement and tuning estimations of the kinetic parameters and the reaction system modifications were sequentially employed during the model optimisation.