Large ethylene plants present unique design, construction challenges

• Published in: The Oil & gas journal Vol. 102; no. 3; pp. 60 - 65
• Main Authors: BUFFENOIR, M. H, AUBRY, J. M, HURSTEL, X
• Format: Magazine Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tulsa, OK Pennwell 19.01.2004; Endeavor Business Media
• Subjects: Applied sciences; By products; Capital expenditures; Construction; Cooling; Costs; Design; Economic data; Energy; Energy economics; Ethane; Ethylene; Exact sciences and technology; Fossil fuels and derived products; Furnaces; General, economic and professional studies; Heat exchangers; Industrial plants; Oil; Operating costs; Polyethylene; Production capacity; Raw materials; Refineries; Return on investment; Site selection; United States > US
• ISSN: 0030-1388; 1944-9151

The design and manufacture of equipment in ethane crackers with more than 1 million tonnes/year (tpy) of ethylene production create many problems during engineering, procurement, construction, and start-up. Current technology constraints due to the exclusive use of centrifugal compressors limit ethane cracker capacity to 1.4 million tpy of ethylene in a single compression line. As with other baseload plants, the race for larger single-train plants will not stop due to these considerations. Technip Group is already working on the design and procurement possibilities of the first 2 million-tpy ethane cracker, single-compression line, using proven centrifugal machines and new furnaces. This article covers the design considerations of the 1 million tpy and larger, mega ethane crackers. The data and subsequent interpretation in this article are based on actual, in-house projects of 1.0 million tpy at various stages of progress.