Book contents
- Green Catalysis and Reaction Engineering
- Cambridge Series in Chemical Engineering
- Green Catalysis and Reaction Engineering
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Sustainability Challenges of the Chemical Industry
- 2 Multiphase Catalytic Processes and Sustainability Challenges
- 3 Ethylene Production from Diverse Feedstocks and Energy Sources
- 4 Ethylene Epoxidation in Gas-Expanded Liquids with Negligible CO2 Formation as a Byproduct
- 5 Spray Reactor-Based Terephthalic Acid Production as a Greener Alternative to the Mid-Century Process
- 6 Sustainability Assessments of Hydrogen Peroxide-Based and Tertiary Butyl Hydroperoxide-Based Propylene Oxide Technologies
- 7 Separation of Propane/Propylene Mixture by Selective Propylene Hydroformylation in Gas-Expanded Liquids
- 8 A Greener Higher Olefin Hydroformylation Process
- 9 Solid Acid-Catalyzed Olefin/Isoparaffin Alkylation in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide
- 10 Epilogue
- Index
- References
3 - Ethylene Production from Diverse Feedstocks and Energy Sources
Environmental Impact Assessment
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 September 2022
Book contents
- Green Catalysis and Reaction Engineering
- Cambridge Series in Chemical Engineering
- Green Catalysis and Reaction Engineering
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Sustainability Challenges of the Chemical Industry
- 2 Multiphase Catalytic Processes and Sustainability Challenges
- 3 Ethylene Production from Diverse Feedstocks and Energy Sources
- 4 Ethylene Epoxidation in Gas-Expanded Liquids with Negligible CO2 Formation as a Byproduct
- 5 Spray Reactor-Based Terephthalic Acid Production as a Greener Alternative to the Mid-Century Process
- 6 Sustainability Assessments of Hydrogen Peroxide-Based and Tertiary Butyl Hydroperoxide-Based Propylene Oxide Technologies
- 7 Separation of Propane/Propylene Mixture by Selective Propylene Hydroformylation in Gas-Expanded Liquids
- 8 A Greener Higher Olefin Hydroformylation Process
- 9 Solid Acid-Catalyzed Olefin/Isoparaffin Alkylation in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide
- 10 Epilogue
- Index
- References
Summary
Ethylene ranks among the top-20 chemicals, with nearly 200 million metric tons made globally in 2020. Its production requires much energy that is currently derived from fossil fuels. This chapter discusses environmental impacts for ethylene production from petroleum, natural gas and biomass sources, predicted using commercial software. Most of the predicted environmental impacts are within the same order of magnitude. For all feedstocks, the main sources of adverse environmental impacts are greenhouse gas emissions, acidification and air pollution stemming from the burning of fossil-based fuel; and for agricultural operations, production of fertilizers and pesticides needed for cultivation (in the case of ethanol), ocean-based transportation of crude oil and the chemical processing steps (for all feedstocks). An assessment of the environmental impacts of different fossil energy sources (coal, natural gas and fuel oil) reveals almost similar carbon footprints to produce a given quantity of energy. The predicted emissions agree well with the actual emissions data reported by coal-based and natural gas-based power plants to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Green Catalysis and Reaction EngineeringAn Integrated Approach with Industrial Case Studies, pp. 50 - 66Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022
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