Zhang, Y., Yan, H., Chong, D. et al. (4 more authors) (2025) Modelling, simulation, thermodynamic and economic performance analysis of steam and CO2 as diluents in thermal cracking furnace for ethylene manufacturing. Fuel, 381 (Part D). 133656. ISSN 0016-2361
Abstract
Energy consumption, economic and environmental benefits of thermal cracking furnace have been important topics in ethylene manufacturing. Use of captured CO2 as alternative diluent in thermal cracking furnace can significantly contribute to CO2 reduction while the studies on CO2 as diluent are limited and inaccurate. To carry out comparative analysis of using steam and CO2 as diluents in propane cracking for ethylene manufacturing, a 1-dimensional (1-D) pseudo-dynamic model of plug flow reactor (PFR) was developed and implemented in gPROMS ModelBuilder®. The model was validated and showed good agreement with industrial data from literature and then was used to analyse the economic and thermodynamic performance of PFR using different diluents. The process analysis includes: (1) impact of diluent-to-propane ratio using steam as diluent; (2) impact of diluent-to-propane ratio using CO2 and compared with using steam; (3) comparison of pure/mixed diluents in 4 different scenarios. The results indicated that the PFR could reach highest annual production at the steam-to-propane ratio 0.2 and reach highest annual profit at the ratio 0.3 when using steam as diluent. Compared with steam, using CO2 as diluent hardly changes the annual production, but can significantly increase the run length and the annual profit. The highest annual profit using CO2 is 10.10 % higher than that using steam and when operating at the diluent-to-propane ratio achieving highest annual profit, using CO2 as diluent can save 17.44 % energy and reduce the exergy destruction by 20.53 %. Pure CO2 was recommended as diluent from comparison of pure/mixed diluents in 4 different scenarios. The key findings of this paper provide significant operational guidance for existing thermal cracking furnace using steam as diluent and also provide insights for future new generation diluents design to reduce the energy consumption in quantity and quality and increase the economic benefits of thermal cracking furnace for ethylene manufacturing.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 The Authors. Except as otherwise noted, this author-accepted version of a journal article published in Fuel is made available via the University of Sheffield Research Publications and Copyright Policy under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
Keywords: | Ethylene manufacturing; Thermal cracking furnace; Diluents; Modelling and simulation; Economic analysis: Energy and exergy analysis |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EUROPEAN COMMISSION - HORIZON 2020 101007963 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 03 Jan 2025 15:52 |
Last Modified: | 03 Jan 2025 15:52 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier BV |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.fuel.2024.133656 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:221094 |
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Licence: CC-BY 4.0