China's ethylene production capacity has ranked first in the world, and there are several major directions for low-carbon industrial development

Ethylene is the most basic raw material of the petrochemical industry, is the leader of the petrochemical industry, can drive the development of plastic deep processing, rubber products, textiles, packaging materials, chemical machinery manufacturing, transportation and other related industries and even the entire national economy, its production scale and technical level marks the development level

1.

After more than half a century of development, China's ethylene industry has made great progress

In 2021, China's ethylene production capacity will reach 41.

Green has become a distinctive background for high-quality development, and the development of the ethylene industry must take into account carbon

2.

In 2021,^{the CO2} emissions of China's petrochemical industry will account for about 8% of China's total^CO2 emissions, of which the ethylene industry will account for about 8% of the

01 Cracking furnace tube enhanced heat transfer technology by changing the internal structure or material of the cracking furnace tube, changing the fluid flow state in the furnace tube, strengthening heat transfer, reducing fuel consumption and carbon emissions

The finned tube developed by companies such as Lummus in the United States can increase the thermal efficiency of ordinary furnace pipes by 20% to 30%, which is relatively mature

02 Cracking furnace tube coating technology can extend the operation cycle of the cracking furnace and the service life of the furnace tube, greatly reduce the coking rate and reduce fuel gas consumption

According to the function, it can be divided into barrier coating and catalytic coating, and the barrier coating mainly plays the role of inert barrier and inhibits coking; On the basis of barrier action, the catalytic coating catalyzes the removal of coke

03 High efficiency separation technology can improve the separation efficiency of cracking products and greatly reduce the process energy, which is one

In addition to continuously optimizing traditional distillation separation processes using advanced recovery systems (ARS) and binary/ternary refrigeration technologies, scientists are also actively exploring new separation materials

04 The intelligent control system establishes the relationship model between the input variable and the output variable through data identification, predicts the trend of the output variable and realizes the closed-loop control, which can improve the smooth operation of the device and the stability of product quality, and reduce the energy consumption

At present, companies have applied artificial intelligence (AI) technology to the ethylene production process, and information technology will help optimize the traditional chemical production process in the future and further achieve fine green production
.

05 The electrification of cracking furnaces will become an important way
to reduce the carbon emissions of ethylene crackers

Many companies around the world and large domestic petroleum and petrochemical companies are conducting research on electric heating cracking furnaces
.
Including long-life and high-power electric furnace design, new high-efficiency electric heating body material technology, advanced control system, etc.
, all need to achieve technological breakthroughs
.
In addition, Finland's Coolbrook has partnered with the University of Cambridge to develop the Rotary Dynamic Reactor (RDR) technology, whose reactor center is a rotor with a rotational speed of 20,000 r/min, which is expected to be industrialized
in 2025.

At the same time, accelerate the industrial promotion of crude oil direct cracking to produce olefin technology; Strengthen forward-looking, strategic and basic subject research and technical research, do a good job in technical reserves, and provide innovation leadership
.
Attach importance to the high value-added utilization of natural gas, strengthen the research and development investment of methane to ethylene and syngas to olefins, strive to make breakthroughs in core technologies such as catalysts and solve engineering and technical problems, and realize industrial applications
at an early date.
Accelerate the pace of research and development of waste plastic pyrolysis oil purification technology and carbon dioxide to ethylene technology, and realize the low-cost resource utilization
of waste.
Layout of the third generation of biomass to ethylene technology to improve ethanol conversion and selectivity
.

At the same time, accelerate the industrial promotion of crude oil direct cracking to produce olefin technology; Strengthen forward-looking, strategic and basic subject research and technical research, do a good job in technical reserves, and provide innovation leadership
.

01 Crude oil direct chemical production technology is slightly through direct steam cracking or catalytic cracking of crude oil, which can significantly reduce the energy consumption and carbon emissions of
the production process.

Direct steam cracking depends mainly on the quality of crude oil, and the core of catalytic cracking is the catalyst
.
Crude oil directly enters the hydrocracking unit, desulfurizes and converts high boiling point components into low boiling point components; After separation, the light components enter the steam cracking device, and the recombinant components enter the high-harsh catalytic cracking device, and there are no relevant industrial reports
.

02 Methane one-step ethylene technology has the advantages of short process flow, less energy consumption, and zero greenhouse gas emissions in the reaction process itself, but it has not yet reached the desired effect
of the industry

In terms of methane anaerobic one-step ethylene production, the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and PetroChina and other units have developed a single-center iron catalyst with a lattice limit of silicide (silicon oxide or silicon carbide), but no pilot test has been reported
.
We should continue to strengthen investment in research and development of methane-to-ethylene and realize industrial applications
at an early date.

03 Syngas is an important platform
for the conversion and utilization of carbon resources.

At present, the indirect method has been industrially applied, among which the more representative ones are the SMTO process of Sinopec and the DMTO process of dalian Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
.
Compared with the indirect method, the direct method of low-carbon olefins has the advantages
of short process and low energy consumption.
The Dalian Institute of Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University, Sinopec, etc.
have all carried out relevant research, and should accelerate the research and development process and strive to achieve industrialization
at an early date.

04 Waste plastic production ethylene is the waste plastic through the chemical recycling method to generate waste plastic pyrolysis oil, and then through purification into the steam cracking unit to produce ethylene, further production of polyethylene and other downstream products, to achieve a closed-loop cycle of plastics, both pollution reduction, carbon reduction and resource saving effects
.

Axens, in collaboration with Plastic Energy and REPSOL, developed a pyrolysis-post-refining-steam cracking technology for waste plastics; SABIC has developed waste plastic pyrolysis-hydrogenation-steam cracking technology, completed industrial demonstrations, and the recycled polymers produced have been successfully applied to unilever, Menglong and other product packaging
.
Future research and development will focus on impurity removal and the adaptability of the device to raw materials
.

05 Using^CO2 as raw material to generate ethylene through reduction reactions not only reduces production emissions, but also realizes the resource utilization
of^CO2.

Braskem announced in 2020 that it has partnered with UIC to develop an ethylene production technology
based on^CO2 electrochemical reduction.
It is estimated that under the premise of using renewable energy, the system can reduce the carbon intensity of ethylene production by 20% to 30%.

In addition, large-scale economic benefits must be based on mature and complete^CO2 capture and storage technologies, and technologies such as^CO2 enrichment still need to be the focus of
research and development.

06 Biomass raw materials to produce ethylene can achieve source carbon
reduction.

At present, the 1st generation of ethanol fermentation ethylene technology has matured, the polymerization grade bioethylene production technology Atol® represented by the 2nd generation of cellulosic ethanol and the 3rd generation of bio-microalgae ethanol to ethylene technology are still under active research and development, the ethanol conversion and selectivity of the 2nd and 3rd generation technologies, ethylene yield has yet to be improved
.