Flexible ethylene production: Electrified ethane cracking coupled with oxidative dehydrogenation

This work reports the design of a flexible combined process in which electrified cracking and oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) processes are coupled. An economic viable alternative to the conventional fuel-fired cracking for the production of ethylene is identified. This solution reduces energy consumptions and carbon dioxide emissions. Replacing the radiative heating (fuel-fired cracking) with electrical heating (electrified cracking) or partially combustion of the feed (ODH process) provides the necessary heat to compensate the endothermicity of the reaction. Electrified cracking and ODH have higher thermal efficiency compared to fuel-fired cracking (97.1% and 98.1% vs 89.9%). Both electrified cracking and ODH process reduce the carbon dioxide emissions by 55.4 and 49.5 % compared to fuel-fired cracking. Moreover, coupling the 2 processes pushes the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions to 57.7 %. From an economic perspective, this innovative and flexible process has operating costs comparable to the ones of traditional fuel-fired ethane cracking: 0.84 € Nm−3 C2H4 and 0.94 € Nm−3 C2H4. Finally, this combined process is not only the most profitable but also the one with the low carbon footprint.