Ethylene from Ethanol

Process designs and economic estimates are presented for fixed-bed and fluidized-bed processes for catalytic dehydration of ethanol to produce ethylene. The designs are based on production of 60,000 metric tons/yr of 99.95% ethylene from a 95 wt% ethanol feed. The fluidized-bed process appears to require a lower investment and to have a lower operating cost. Also it gives a better yield of ethylene on feed. Neither process appears capable of producing ethylene at a price competitive with that of ethylene from world-scale hydrocarbon cracking plants. However, ethanol dehydration could be of interest for relatively small-scale production in an area where public policy encouraged the development of a chemical industry based on local agricultural sources.