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The process
Figure 1 depicts MEG production
from ethylene via a process similar to
the OMEGA catalytic process from
Shell Global Solutions (The Hague,
the Netherlands; www.shell.com). In
the described process, MEG is produced via EO, which is manufactured
in an integrated plant utilizing Shell EO
technology. An important feature of
the process is the negligible production of diethylene glycol (DEG) and
triethylene glycol (TEG), which occur
as byproducts in other ethylene glycol
production processes.
Ethylene oxide production. Ethylene
and oxygen are fed to a multi-tubular
reactor, forming EO. This exothermic
reaction, conducted in fixed beds in the
reactor tubes, occurs in the gaseous
phase with the use of a silver catalyst
supported on alumina. Steam is generated by the heat of reaction.
Ethylene oxide recovery. The reactor product stream is fed to the EO
absorber for lights removal by water
quenching. Part of this gaseous overhead stream is recycled to the reactor,
while the other part is sent to a carbon-
Location
Lotte Chemical
400
2008
Petro Rabigh
600
2009
Shell
750
2009
Global perspective
Shell OMEGA is the first process to
enable ethylene glycol production via
a fully catalytic process. According
to the licenser, the process is able to
achieve EO-to-EG converstion and
selectivity near 100%, leading to production of MEG only.
However, although 40% of worldwide ethylene glycol production is
derived from processes using Shell
technologies, only three plants in the
world use the new Shell OMEGA technology (Figure 2). As can be seen, two
of these plants are located in Asia,
which is the region of the world responsible by the major share of MEG
global consumption. China alone accounts for about 45% of global demand for MEG.
n
Edited by Scott Jenkins
Economic performance
An economic evaluation of the process was conducted based on data
from the first quarter of 2015, assuming a facility with a nominal capacity
of 750,000 ton/yr of MEG constructed
on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Estimated capital expenses (total
CO2
Ethylene
O2
Steam
CO2 vent
1
7
CW
8
Water
CO2
10
MEG
ST
Waste stream
ST
Start-up year
ST
Ethylene oxide
9
ST
Catalyst recycle
CW
11
ST
12
CW Cooling water
ST Steam
FIGURE 1. Monoethylene glycol (MEG) production, according to a process similiar to the Shell OMEGA process
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OCTOBER 2015